Spiral Out
by Ane S. Thesia
Summary: Sakura attracts unwanted eyes when she uses a mysterious jutsu on her deathbed. What ensues is a delving into the hidden past of Uchiha Itachi, a parabola Sakura isn't prepared to be pulled into. Other Genres: Romantic elements, Angst, Tragedy. [REVISING]
1. Here From the King's Mountain View rvisd

**REVISED, EDITED, BETA'D: 1/5/O7**

A/N: This fic picks up at the end of Sakura and Chiyo's fight with Sasori of the Red Sand. Consider the details of the actual battle to be canon, but the end spinning off into original. I chose not to rewrite the entire fight, mainly because if you want to see it just read the chapters- Kishimoto can tell it much better than I can. ;) So it has been insanely condensed. Enjoy.

**Spiral Out  
**By: Ane S. Thesia  
Beta Readers: The wonderful Riza and Lally

**PROLOGUE**

_**Here from the king's mountain view  
**Here from the wild dream come true  
Feast like a sultan, I do  
On treasures and flesh never few

* * *

_

Gaara's body lay lifeless on the cave floor, his mouth slightly open in a silent scream, eyes rolled back so only white peered out from half lidded eyes.

"Done."

The man simply known as 'Leader' eyed his fellow conspirators with a weary expression.

"It's getting rather noisy outside; seems our visitors have finally arrived. Sasori, Deidara, take care of them. The rest of you, scatter."

Paying no heed to possible protests or acceptances, Leader's body faded away into the unknown, closely followed by the others.

Only one man stayed behind.

-

Itachi tried to hide his obvious displeasure at being so quickly cast aside in favor of the two belligerent artists, when in reality this particular Bijuu was supposed to be _his._

Twisting his face into a diabolical smirk, the blond-haired Akatsuki spoke with excitement evident in his voice. "The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is out there, isn't he, mm? Itachi-kun, how will we know which one he is?"

For a moment Itachi thought about simply leaving without answering him. If they were given his task, they should have to deal with the consequences. But he wasn't in the mood to make enemies… Not right now, at least.

"He'll be the one to run at you, loudly."

He wasn't holding his façade very well, even as he bared his uncaring eyes into Deidara's own bright blue ones, which were twinkling with mischief.

Sasori flipped his long, clay tail to the ground causing dirt to fly up and envelope his partner, obviously annoyed.

"Don't think badly of me, Itachi-kun." Had the mask covering his face the ability to move with emotion, there would have been a self-satisfied smile in place.

With unmoving eyes, Itachi stepped backwards into the cave wall, leaving behind nothing but his barely audible 'huff' of disapproval.

What the two remaining Akatsuki didn't know was that he hadn't really left at all. Masking his chakra to totally unreadable levels, he decided to stay hidden inside the earthen boundary of the cave. He wasn't going to let these two ruin his chance at the Jinchuuriki today, and what better time than when the entire group of Konoha ninja were distracted by their enemies.

That, and he'd seen the way Sasori's body language had bristled upon receiving the knowledge that Chiyo was amongst the group-

'_I never would have thought the puppet to be such a sentimental fool for someone like his grandmother' _

-whom they all knew was just as manipulative as her adopted kin.

_'Raising the boy with marionettes...' _

Everyone in Akatsuki had at some point heard the rumors about his childhood.

-

The entrance to the cave was smashed open with ease and the group poured inside in a defensive position, all blinking at the sudden darkness. After their eyes adjusted, they all seemed to see nothing but Gaara lying beneath Deidara's feet, and almost in unison gasps were heard.

"Give Gaara back to us!" the yellow-haired boy in the group growled, fists clenched.

Deidara and Sasori both eyed one another with similar amusement.

"You must be the Jinchuuriki," Deidara spoke with glee, throwing his fist into his side pack. With an air of urgency, he pull out a glob of clay, quickly ate it up with the mouth in his hand and spat it back out, motioning a couple quick seals to create a giant bird. Nodding at Sasori in mutual understanding, he jumped on the bird's back, picking Gaara's lifeless body up in the bird's mouth at the same time. "I'll take this one out of here while you deal with the others, mm, Sasori?"

"I'll make very quick work of the rest, you just wait and don't touch that Jinchuuriki," was the warning reply from his dear partner.

In a flash, Deidara's plan quickly came together as he flew from the cave looking over his shoulder at Naruto and the Copy Ninja following close behind.

'_The thrill of the chase, mm?'_

His toothy grin mimicked the excitement in his gut, the kind he lived for. Giving one last glance in Sasori's direction, he continued into the forest, ripping the four-man team in two.

Itachi didn't flinch as he watched the battle commence. Giving short credit to his two partners, he noted that pulling them apart was probably the best plan. The girl and the old woman had proven a bother earlier, when they awoke the Jinchuuriki from his own genjutsu prematurely. Now the two females were left all alone to Sasori's devices, he knew it wouldn't take long.

Or...?

-

The room was destroyed not long after the fight started. Blood, dust, and stones littered the entire area. Heavy breathing, despair…

Itachi hadn't lifted a finger. He wasn't supposed to be there anyway, and if it weren't for his own curiosity, he'd have been following Deidara right now. But there was something entrancing in the way the two ninja fought together as one. The proverbial knife in Sasori's side had gotten under his skin faster than expected; he was fighting with anger lacing his every move. Not like himself at all, he pulled out all the stops. But the seasoned Chiyo stayed calm and collected as she countered all his skills with equal fervor. She was indeed impressive to watch. And the way her young partner added the finishing touches to what she couldn't manage herself was interesting, he admitted. Her agile moves and incredible brute force was the tip of the iceberg that undid Sasori's ultimate trump card- his unrivaled poison.

He had seen the bubblegum-pink haired girl innoculate herself after the first cuts she received, to his pleasure. _'Clever…'_ was all he could think when he realized the fight was indeed far from over. And by the time Sasori's body was completely destroyed, Itachi found himself enthralled by such quick thinking. Sasori's hands were more than full with this pair; they were overflowing. And his cocky attitude and low expectations would ultimately be his undoing.

Sasori's body pulled itself back together, eerie clicking noises filled the cavern. What would he do now?

"Shiro Higi, Jikki Chikamatsu no Shuu," Chiyo breathed out huskily, obviously feeling the last legs of a tough battle. Ten imposing puppets surrounded the duo, ready to do their master's bidding.

Itachi smirked inwardly- he knew this was it. Sasori was going to use his last jutsu, one he'd only seen once before.

The scroll now in Sasori's shaking paws unraveled with a loud 'zip' as he played his final hand. Not to be outdone, he introduced his own forbidden technique- the Red Hidden Seal, Performance of One Hundred Puppets. The entire upper caverns filled with black-cloaked bodies of a hundred dead.

Unknown to Chiyo and Sakura, the moment of defeat as all puppets were dismantled was only fleeting, realizing too late that Sasori had hidden his real self inside the skirmish as a normal puppet. But it was too late, because as they tried to quietly celebrate the end of their long, hard fight, innoculate Chiyo with the last poison counter as she too had been cut by a poison laced blade…

His sword slid gracefully into Sakura's abdomen. The pain showed on her face as she realized the real Sasori had just stabbed her all the way through. Itachi couldn't decide if it was pain or shock the young female felt at that moment.

'_Never let your guard down…'_

Sakura gasped and shook as blood poured from her already frail and beaten body, the poison seeping into every vein and blood vessel, slowly closing her coffin before she could even think about what to do.

Chiyo lay a few feet away, gasping with heartbreak and poison in her mind. "This...this," her breathing became more labored with every word, "can't be the end, not this way," her voice trailed off.

She grasped the stones beneath her with what little strength she could muster, searching desperately for the vile of poison counter Sakura had given her. If she could just manage a few feet before passing out from the venom coursing its way into her heart…

Sasori pulled his blade from Sakura violently, not missing the chance to spill just a little more blood from the girl who had caused him such trouble up until now. Without sparing a moment, he lunged at Chiyo for the killing blow.

Two figures popped into his peripheral vision before he could even steal a full glance. Before he knew what was happening, his body shut down, and all he saw before his last breath was the dead, dull faces of his 'parents' and their unmerciful blades piercing the only thing that laid him any claim to the living world. They had sliced his heart right through, there was no chance now. It was indeed over.

-

Sakura's eyes rolled about under her eyelids as she searched her surroundings for answers as to why the silence had befallen her. She could hear nothing now but the rushing of blood in her ears.

"Chiyo-sama! Where are you, I can't hear you!"

Silence.

She stole a glance from her position face down, turning her head as much as was allowed in her condition. A single tear escaped when she found Chiyo's form crumpled on the ground, not a single hint of life left in her small frame.

"No… Chiyo…" Sakura bit out.

The hint of remorse wasn't just for her fallen comrade, for she knew her body was just on the borderline of being in the same state as Chiyo. She'd never been so close to death, moments she cherished and moments she always wanted to forget washed across her mind like a great flood. For a moment, she almost let the torrent pick her up and escape to wherever it was heading…

'_I'm not ready to die!'_ her inner mind screamed, _'I have people depending on me! This can't be the end!'_

She knew it, too. She promised she'd save her friends, but at what cost, she suddenly wondered… It didn't matter at this very moment, however, because neither could be done or debated if she died here and now.

She wouldn't let herself die today. There's only one last hope and she prayed it would work.

-

Itachi's eyes scanned the corpses around the room. As silent as a ghost, he pulled his body from the cave wall and stepped onto a portion of floor that lay still in tact.

"Sasori…" he mumbled, walking towards the body of the once powerful Akatsuki member, now draped on top of his demise, swords still protruding from his chest. Reaching over carefully, Itachi closed the man's lifeless open eyes with his fingertips.

Turning his attention to the two intruders, he let out a low sigh, knowing they were both also deceased_. _

'Pointless.'

Sakura could feel something brush past her leg as she struggled with an inner will so immense right now she didn't even know it existed. Her eyes flickered open at the sudden movement, but couldn't focus over the dark spots in her vision. She felt her body turning over on the sharp rocks, cutting into her stomach and sides, but continued her intense concentration against all odds. Her hands had formed the seal almost on their own, as she was chanting deep inside that she couldn't die, she couldn't die, she couldn't…

-

Bright red eyes suddenly turned her way.

"This girl…" Itachi slipped out under his breath with a slight tinge of disbelief.

'_What is she up to? I could have sworn she was dead, her chakra…'_

Stealing into an impossible reserve of inner chakra, she mumbled the last words she thought she'd ever hear…

"Souzou...Sai...sei..."

With wide eyes, Itachi watched as the half dead girl lying in shambles before him suddenly summoned an intricate seal to the third eye of her forehead. It spread like veins up to her hairline and down to her eyebrows- _inside her body, _though, it was much more drastic. He could sense the incredible healing chakra pulsating before him. The air about the two felt heavy with death, and now rebirth…

-

"Genesis…"

He sat in a state of disbelief as the seemingly novice kunoichi executed a technique he had only heard rumors about surrounding one of the Legendary Three- Tsunade. But here it was right before his very eyes, filling the girl's face back with its original healthy color, generating life where there once was none at all.

Her azure eyes shot open with a life of their own, a look on her face as if a great spirit was possessing her. The moment wasn't long lasting, as the abuse her jutsu detailed on her body forced her into a deep state of blackout.

Itachi smirked greedily. He _had_ to have it.

* * *

-

-  
_The devil and his had me down  
In love with the dark side I've found  
Dabblin' all the way down  
Up to my neck soon to drown_


	2. Kisame, Sakura Sakura, Kisame REVISED

**Revised**: 1/17/07 

_-_

**Spiral Out**  
By: Ane S. Thesia  
Beta'd by: Lally 

**Chapter Two:** Sakura, Kisame… Kisame, Sakura…

_-_

_-_

* * *

Itachi let out a relieved sigh when he finally spotted the old Shinto shrine he and Kisame currently claimed as their home. It was long since used for its original purpose of housing kindly monks; now overgrown with weeping willows and tall, extravagant weeds… _and harboring two dangerous S-Class criminals_. But perfect, nonetheless, perched in a barely visible forested area on the outskirts of the country of Grass. Far enough away from the scattered, poverty-stricken villages that littered the countryside with no chance of someone stumbling across it accidentally.  
.

The girl over his shoulder never regained consciousness after he had snatched her up and left, and a couple times he had to stop just to make sure she was still breathing. He'd given her the rest of the remedy as a precaution, having pried it from the hands of Chiyo before leaving.

For a moment he wondered whether or not Deidara had met the same fate as his partner Sasori…

_'Not my problem'. _There were more important matters at hand.

Scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary, Itachi ascended the stone stairs and entered the shrine. Straight ahead of the entryway, he met eyes with the familiar aged statue of a happy Buddha. The stone pallet below him, which had at one time been lined with offerings and incense, was littered with stray kunai and shurikan where Kisame often soaked up the irony through target practice.

Noting the stench of burned food and eyeing the form of the slumbering shark-man stretched out on the tatami mats of the main room, Itachi quickly skirted by and slid the door to his room shut as quietly as he had entered. He felt relieved to finally be able to rid himself of the burden hanging over his back, plunking the Konoha nin down onto the middle of his bedroll. Stealing a last glance at the girl's serene face, curiously lingering on the tiny diamond-shaped mark in the middle of her forehead, Itachi stoked the fire in the small pit across the room before leaving to find some dinner.

_-_

* * *

_-_

The first thing Sakura noticed as her mind finally came back to her was the delicate smell of burning wood. _'Cherry wood'_, she realized, inhaling the scent deeply.

The second thing she noticed was how hard it was to breath, because her throat was being compressed by…

Her eyes shot open, horrified. It took her several seconds to realize what was happening, before a grotesque chortle sent shivers down her spine. She was being CHOKED!

Frantically, she brought her hands up around the large blue mits grasping her neck mercilessly. She stifled a throaty cough before focusing her eyes on the face of the large blue-hued man, smirking delightedly down at her.

"Wha…!" She coughed again, feeling the blood vessels behind her eyes pulsating.

"Now that you're awake- who are you?" the man rasped out through jagged teeth.

Sakura started kicking her legs wildly at him, anything to get him to let off of her sore neck. Her entire body was in pain and feeling weak, but despite all that she needed to escape somehow.

The obvious confused look on her face didn't go unseen by her predator, though.

Kisame let off her throat enough for her to talk. "I see by your hitai-ate, you're from Konohagakure. You have some serious BALLS coming here."

"Who…who…" Sakura's eyes darted around the room again, trying to discern anything familiar. Judging by the classical style décor around her, she knew she wasn't in her hometown. "Let me go! I don't know any more than you do!" she gasped out painfully.

But he wasn't letting go and, if anything, his grip was tightening. A blood vessel popped behind her right eye and she could feel it flood into the Sclera.

Lest her neck snap or trachea collapse, she needed to do _something_ and _quickly_. Her hands came together over her head clumsily into the Horse seal and she concentrated just enough to let off a mild mind shock genjutsu.

Kisame's grip loosened just enough for her to wriggle free, and she sat up with a groan, scurrying as far backwards as she could. _'What is going on…?'_

And then it all came flooding back. The fight with Sasori, Chiyo dying from her wounds and poison, herself… on the brink of…

Wiping a stray tear from her eye with the back of her clenched fist, she gazed in shock when she noticed she was actually wiping away blood. Upon further inspection she realized she had quite a bit of blood on her. Remembrance smacked her as she grasped the wound on her abdomen, shocked to find that it no longer existed.

"It worked?" she stammered, with a sigh of relief, "I can't believe…" Her eyes shot back up at her attacker angrily. "Where am I?" she accused, "Who are you and where is Kakashi-sensei, Naruto-!"

Kisame rubbing at his eyes a moment longer as the genjutsu dispersed almost as quickly as it had come. He focused back on the retreating girl before him with a snarl.

Sakura jumped up from where she sat, weaving for a moment before getting her steady footing back. "WHO ARE YOU!" She pointed at Kisame with her fist out in front of her, ready to defend herself with a newfound course of adrenaline creeping up her spine.

Kisame simply stood there flatly, debating whether or not it was worth torturing the girl for information or just right out slaughtering her.

Sakura tried to mask the fright shooting through her mind the moment she recognized his cloak for what it really was. "Akatsuki!" she bit out with nervousness hidden behind intensity. "I don't know how I got here, but what I do know is that I must have been captured after I..." she sputtered, "You can't keep me here!"

The nervousness she was experiencing was nothing, though, compared to the anger she felt at the thought of being nabbed away in her vulnerable state.

Without waiting for any further responses from the imposing man in front of her, despite the sincerity behind his act of playing stupid, Sakura leapt forward with mustered audacity, channeling all her strength to a kick in his stomach.

With a grunt, Kisame was moved back but not knocked over, a look of surprise and anger taking over his features.

**"You just made the last mistake of your life."**

_-_

* * *

_-_

Itachi reveled in the hunt. Creeping slowly through the trees, he enjoyed the way the chilly breeze felt on his face, the way the leaves danced all around him and the trees groaned mourningly against the wind.

He had been stalking an older buck for the last ten minutes, and finally decided his chance was best taken now. He brought up his bow with ease and plucked an arrow from the satchel on his back, pulling it back on the bowstring, enjoying the sound of stretching sinew and the whistle of the arrow as it was let loose to fly. His aim was on its mark, and the buck died quickly as the arrow pierced right into his heart from under the left armpit.

Itachi leapt from the high branches, landed with an inaudible thud, and stalked towards his dead prey with a slight smile playing on his lips. Brushing loose black strands of hair from his eyes, he bent down to heave the solid feast over his back. The trek back would be fast this time, unlike usual when he had to travel much farther out for such large prey.

Today he felt lucky.

He was pulled from his reverie the moment he heard a resounding crash from the direction of the shrine.

"Damnit," he whispered under his breath, closing his crimson eyes for a moment as he visualized Kisame finding the sleeping girl in their house. He knew he had to hurry; his partner had a way of getting out of control when the mood hit...

_-_

* * *

_-_

"Uuugh," Kisame gasped out, a bit of blood falling from his lips in unison. "THAT one hurt, I'll give you that much." He gave the pink-haired fighter a sadistic smile before wiping the dribbles away with his thumb.

This girl was proving tougher and tougher by the second, he realized amusedly. _'You really can't judge a book by its cover'_. But by the looks of things on her end, it wouldn't be going on too much longer.

The dark circles under Sakura's eyes were growing more red with every attack, the fatigue she felt growing very evident. Her face was ever pale, and she trembled uncontrollably. Blood gushed down her thigh from where his Samehade had torn away flesh and drained her chakra.

She made a quick decision to disarm him after that, though, and was relieved when he had no choice but to relinquish his grip after she delivered a swift kick to the 'family jewels'. She hated resorting to such dirty tricks, but this was getting far too serious for her to stomach so soon after her last fight. Her gloves were torn, and her knuckles bled… to the dismay of the bedroom wall… _and_ the large Oak tree just outside…

The moment she'd found out her foe was Akatsuki, she noted that she needed to get out of the small fighting space and get herself together. She didn't give him even a second to move again before punching a gaping hole in the wall behind her, diving through and jumping into the nearest tree to nurse the side of her face where the shark-man had landed a solid punch just moments before. She smiled evilly when she saw the look of shock overcome him the moment she initiated their fight.  
Moments passed before she saw him emerge from the front of the building with his giant serrated Zanbattou, a lustful look in his eyes.

Lust for blood.

She didn't wait for him to come for her. Thanking the gods her medical pack was still in tact and still clinging to her waist, she slipped a Hyourougan into her mouth, swallowing it greedily. She hurdled from the tree unseen and drove her fist into it on her way down, aiming for the diversion of it falling towards Kisame so she could gather more chakra to her right hand. Savoring the feeling of the soldier pill taking effect, she pounced with instant fervor at her enemy, initiating contact with the tight muscles of his stomach, attempting to use her Chakra Scalpel on the sensitive area.

Jumping back with grace, she landed several feet away from him, ready for anything… except she wasn't ready for the playful look in his beady eyes.

_'He's enjoying this,'_ she realized, disgustedly. He was relishing in the blood coming from his mouth, and he paid no attention to the gash she had driven into his abdomen._ 'I can't go like this much longer.' _

The pain in her leg was growing unbearable, a slight side effect of popping Hyourougan being over-sensitized nerves. But it was also like taking some kind of amphetamine; it didn't last too long, but it did the trick in a tough bind. But she was running out of pain killing endorphins by the second.

She focused back on Kisame, who was already on the last seal of a jutsu. Jumping back as far as she could, as quickly as she could, she scolded herself for not even noticing him start his technique.

"Suiton! Bakushouha!" he gurgled, as water started pouring out of his mouth in a torrent. He was taking advantage of the small crater Sakura had uncontrollably left after trying to keep her footing after being thrown away by his Samehade.

Sakura jumped back a little further, knowing he was going to be using another water jutsu. Grasping a kunai from her pack, she channeled some chakra into it before throwing it with great speed towards his upper body, hoping to stop his next move long enough.

He allowed it to pierce his bicep as he finished the last seal for his Aquatic Shockwave attack. "Hope you can swim!" he laughed, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Long, coiling spirals of water leapt from the pool of water at his feet, soaring towards Sakura. She jumped with all her might, straight up, the razor-like water nipping and tearing at her shins. Taking advantage of her flesh wounds, she smeared some of her own blood on the tips of her fingers and the back of her hand, performing the seals of an attack she had only had the chance to practice once before with Tsunade.

Today seemed to be a day for trying new things…

The water splashed back down below her as she landed on another nearby tree branch, filling the front yard of the shrine with roiling waves. Sakura slammed her hand down on the wood below her…  
_  
'Katsuyu-sama, I hope you're with me today!'_ "Kuchiyose no…!"

Before she could continue, she felt her body being kicked square from behind, throwing her face-first towards the ground. She didn't have time to brace herself other than a twist of her body before she landed on her shoulder blades on the ground with a hard, breath-stealing **'**thud**'**.

"Stop," a soft voice spoke from above her, unreadable in its tone.

Black and white stars flooded her vision momentarily as she tried to regain the air knocked from her lungs. She swore she heard someone tell her to stop…?

She looked up at the tree she had just been in with an audible gasp, realizing the man who had knocked her down had two _very_ bright, _very_ angry-looking Sharingan eyes.

_'Itachi!?_'

"Itachi, this isn't done," Kisame growled, still clenched in the last seal of his jutsu, "This girl infiltrated our house, then attacked me. I'm only cleaning up Konoha's assassin _trash_!"

Itachi continued to stare down at Sakura with eyes devoid of emotion. "You use Kuchiyose and you'll destroy our home, I'm not ready to find a new place to live just yet."

Sakura blinked several times, confused.

"Itachi…!" Another growl from the peanut gallery. Might as well have been a whine, at this point.

Sakura tried to sit up and glare over her shoulder, but her body really _had_ had enough today. She continued to lie there beneath the large arbor, steadying her rapid heartbeat. The pill was wearing off…

"Kisame, you're excessive. Shut it before I shut it for you." This time his eyes did divert to his fellow Akatsuki, who let out a very loud sigh in protest.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and let the remnants of water beneath her body seep into the back of her shirt. What the hell was going on? Why was she in an unknown forest with Uchiha Itachi glaring down at her, and the half fish Kisame plotting her demise silently from mere feet away?

Why did she suddenly feel like laughing?

"**Heh…!** Heh… hehhehheh heh…."

Sakura trailed off as she let herself slip into blackness; it was the least she could do for her poor psyche.

The two men threw her inquisitive looks before looking back at one another with obvious disturbed confusion.

Rubbing the skin between his eyes for a moment, Itachi reminded himself why he had taken this strange girl home. He jumped down from his seat up high and scooped the battered kunoichi under his arm. He'd have to be careful to make sure she couldn't go wild again when she woke up later.

_-_

* * *

_-_

Hours later, sitting around the wooden slab they called a dinner table, Itachi was still bent that his bedroom had been destroyed over pitiful circumstances. He scolded Kisame right out for his idiocy, reminding him that what goes on in his bedroom is of no mind to anyone but himself. Strangers or not.

Kisame just huffed, tearing into the overcooked meat lying on the plate in front of him, grimacing at the pain lingering in his stomach. Mumbling something about Konoha spies, he leaned back on his elbows, rubbing more numbing ointment into his wound.

He had stolen Sakura's medical pack as soon as he could and strewn the contents out over the floor, eyeing it all wearily before settling on the ointment and a vile of pills, which clanked and rolled across the floor. Playing with a Hyourougan between his tongue and cheek, he savored the sour taste it exuded when his sharp tooth pierced and broke the gelatin shell.

"Gods, I haven't had these in ages…" His eyes rolled back momentarily.

Itachi ate gingerly, eyeing the (now bound) unconscious girl lying on the other side of the room. He had moved his bedroom out into the main room for now, since he couldn't sleep with a gigantic hole in the wall of his old room. The fire crackled and spit sparks into the surrounding ashes, giving off a flattering red glow that danced on Sakura's coral-colored hair. She was _once again_ out cold, Itachi thought to himself, flashing another glare at his partner.

"Next time she wakes up, don't lay a finger on her, Kisame," he tried to say as calmly as possible. "Even if she manages to attack you. She has a technique I want, and I can't very well get it from her if she's constantly on wits-end."

Kisame grumbled.

He was still wondering why the girl was there, assuming Itachi had stolen her at some point after they had extracted the Shukaku and disbanded. He found himself curious as to what kind of jutsu this girl knew that could garner Itachi's attention so much as to bring the Leaf back with him. He flashed Itachi a curious look.

Reading his long time partner's silent inquisition, Itachi spoke with a light hint of excitement underlying his soft tone. "Genesis Rebirth."

Kisame's eyes widened, and an ugly sneer painted his face. "Banzai," he mouthed, grinning knowingly.

_-_

* * *


	3. In the Arms of Undertow REVISED

**REVISED: **2/1

****

**Spiral Out**  
By: Ane S. Thesia  
Beta'd by: Lally (/huggles!)

**Chapter Three**: In the Arms of Undertow

* * *

Unshed tears glistened like diamonds in Naruto's eyes. He didn't really care whether or not they fell. 

Sasuke was gone.

Gaara was dead.

And now Sakura was missing with the possibility of… He couldn't speak, let alone _think_ the last word of that sentence.

_-  
_  
When him and Kakashi had managed to get back to the cave they were met with a tremendous sight. The area was destroyed and littered with the corpses of over a hundred human-puppet bodies. Chiyo lay prone on her stomach, very much dead Sasori was deceased as well. And Sakura… Sakura was…

Gone.

There was not a trace of her other than blood, which Pakkun confirmed. Eyes flittered back and forth from solemn face to solemn face- the silent knowledge that, either way, something horrible happened or was going to happen to their pink-haired friend…

_-_

Godaime Tsunade wasn't saying much, to the annoyance of her company. She had dismissed Gai and his team the moment they were debriefed, asking Kakashi and Naruto to stay afterward. So now it was just the bitter remnants of Team Seven, both quite outwardly distraught, waiting for something… anything… Devising their own schemes inside their minds, silently waiting.

Tsunade continued rubbing her temples in contemplation. Shizune shifted next to her nervously.

"I am going to send ANBU out to gather information," she spoke up after the long silence, "The two of you will most definitely _not_ pursue this without my direct command, you got that? This is serious."

It was like she could tell what they were both thinking.

"WHAT!" Naruto blurted out angrily, very close to throwing a tantrum. Remnants of tears shook from his eyes.

Kakashi's hand flew out in front of his chest, drawing a tight-lipped grunt from the yellow-haired time bomb next to him. Without so much as a glance, he was able to purvey his intentions to Naruto very clearly.

Naruto sighed dejectedly and stepped back far enough to shrink down onto the wooden bench next to the door. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked at the floor, biting his bottom lip in frustration.

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi spoke evenly, "I request immediate response to her possible abduction. Her blood was around the scene, we don't know if…"

He was cut off abruptly by Tsunade slapping her hands onto the surface of her desk. She kept her eyes closed, her brow arched down almost in a pained expression. "I know what you're going to say, Kakashi. And I understand both of your concern, of course." Her eyes opened, giving him her most sincere expression of worry. "Sakura is my student, I feel your pain, I really do… But I also know how capable she is. ANBU will follow leads as to possible locations of Akatsuki. We already have an idea as to the whereabouts of Itachi and Kisame-"

She was interrupted by the sudden wave of rage flowing from across the room. Just mentioning their names had Naruto in a fit, and no matter how long she paused to give him time to calm down, she knew he wasn't going to like what was said next.

"And after we confirm her …_life_… we will execute a plan with her cooperation in possibly taking them down from the inside."

The look on Kakashi's face was nothing compared to the horror on Naruto's. If it were humanly possible, you would have heard his jaw crash onto the wood floor. His eyes mirrored deep shock.

Kakashi let the obvious disheartened feeling show only for a moment before settling on his normal passive demeanor. There was also something about the way Tsunade reassured him with her eyes…

"That's quite higher than the type of missions she's used to, Tsunade-sama… S-Class criminal infiltration- she hasn't been prepared for something like this. If she's even…" He let himself trail off, glancing at Naruto's still profusely disturbed look and white knuckles grasped around his knees with trembling tension. 

But Tsunade didn't appear fazed. "I don't think you have to worry about her death," she spoke with pride, "Medical specialists like ourselves have a few aces you would never know about..." She felt like winking, but that wouldn't have been appropriate. "Anyway, despite your concern, we will be carrying this out as I say. Neither of you are to be involved, I'm sorry. From here on out this is S-Rank, we will have ANBU working on the case."

Kakashi simply rubbed the back of his neck, not quite knowing how to respond to being treated like less than ANBU.

"Shizune, please get Yamato in here as soon as possible. Kakashi, Naruto; I will keep you updated. Just... try to stay positive." And with a weak smile, she waved them off, ready to fall back into her plush chair and continue brainstorming.  
_  
'Kami-sama, please lend me your guidance…'_

-

* * *

- 

An annoyingly loud clatter woke Sakura from the comforting darkness of sleep. Shooting up with inhuman speed, she clutched a 'kunai' from under the edge of her 'mattress' and prepared to defend herself…

Of course, her hands were empty and she was sleeping on the floor. All she really accomplished was getting a splinter under her fingernail from jabbing her hand into the wooden floor underneath the bedroll haphazardly.

"Son of a…" she mumbled sleepily, bringing her finger to her mouth. It only took her a couple seconds to remember her situation. If her aching body wasn't reminder enough, the man leering at her from across the room was enough of a clue. 

Kisame was busy chucking kunai at the statue of Buddha, overwhelmed with boredom. He balanced one of the sharp knives on the end of his finger, watching the woman across the room startle from her slumber after tossing a knife against the wall near her. Yeah, it was on purpose. He was sick of watching her sleep- it had been almost twenty-four hours since she'd passed out.

A smile graced his lips when he heard a growl come from low in the woman's throat, almost able to feel the killing intent radiating from her petite form. "For being as lazy as you are, I'm shocked you were able to put up such a fight…" he sneered back at her.

Sakura tried without much luck to calm herself down. She mentally reminded herself that she needed to try and remain in check, not let her emotions get away with her as she normally allowed. She needed to figure out why she was where she was, and how to get the hell out of it. But first thing was first…

Ignoring his smart-ass comment, she closed her eyes in slight concentration and moved her hand to press on her lower back. Channeling chakra to that area, she sighed as the pain in her muscles and the large bruises slowly disappeared.  
_  
'Right, I got kicked out of that tree…' _she remembered with a frown,_ 'by… Itachi.'_

She shivered at his name, feeling hopeless for the moment as she dismayed that the only escape was going to be by force. There was no way she could beat him, she knew that for sure.

She continued concentrating with her eyes closed, to the obvious humor of Kisame as she heard some kind of demented chortle come from his side of the room, and searched for any signs of chakra in the area. To her utter happiness, she felt nothing, beside the freak-show across the room. A sly smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, she opened her eyes and glared teasingly into Kisame's face. 

"What's so amuse--" he cut himself off, knowing the answer to his question before he could even finish it. "Shit!" He ungracefully hopped to his feet.

The glint of a kunai bounced off the wall as the lithe female pounced across the room like a cat, anger evident in her every move. He found himself wanting to smack his own face, wondering why he had thrown the weapon so close to her sleeping form.

Sakura's first blow was blocked easily, the 'clang' of metal echoing lightly off the barren walls. She continued to press on Kisame's kunai with her entire body, attempting to read his facial expression, before jumping back and crouching down to lunge again. His face didn't give him away; she couldn't tell if his heart was in killing her or not.

As if reading her mind, he spoke quickly, putting his hands up as if in neutrality. "I've been told not to kill you. As much as I'd love to…"

Before he could continue, she leapt at him again, this time crouching lower and attempting to swipe his feet out from underneath him. Which she accomplished a little too easily, not that she minded. If he wasn't going to try and kill her it'd make things _that_ much easier.

Her eyes widened when she heard a sigh escape his lips, and she scowled as he simply stayed on his back on the floor. He seemed to be looking through her at something…

"…." 

A calloused hand wrapped around her own from behind, twisting her wrist in an incredibly painful way. She dropped her raised kunai against the rising pain in her right hand. Attempting to throw her elbow backward to lay a blow on her attacker, she quickly found her other arm being held roughly behind her back and twisted upwards so her hand was almost touching the upper part of her back.

"When--!" she blurted painfully, without thinking.

Itachi continued twisting her arm until she fell to her knees in pain. Not letting go, he replied with no anger. "Your ability at tracking chakra is laughable, it seems."

With a grunt she tipped her head back to look into the burning red eyes staring down at her. To her surprise he didn't look mad. Quite the opposite. A small smirk graced his features as he dominated her movements, as if waiting for her to react again in vein.

She struggled uselessly against his force, letting her body go slack.

"You mask your presence well, is all," she shot back, knowing deep down she really wasn't that great at feeling chakra signatures. But she was good at controlling her own...

Playing sheepish, she sighed bleakly, speaking to Itachi as if she would feel better rolling up in a ball on the floor. "Will you tell me what all this is about?" she asked calmly, throwing her gaze to the floor. "Why did you two take me here, you know full well Konoha doesn't reason with the likes of _you_ over hostages…" 

It hurt to say, but it was true. This wasn't the first time someone from the village was taken as a bargaining chip by a group of criminals out for an easy buck. Not to say she didn't expect ANBU on her trail sometime soon with the intent to maim and/or kill the people responsible. She smirked inwardly at the thought. Of course she had no clue where she was, just that it was some kind of shrine and the area outside was heavily forested.

Sakura continued studying the wood grain beneath her knees, anticipating the moment Itachi would lesson his grip.

"Hm," he mumbled almost inaudibly, "You're not a hostage, per se…"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Then what the fuck do you want!" she ground out through clenched teeth.

"Wild, isn't she? Such horrible language from such a pretty mouth…" Kisame spoke from the floor ahead of where she sat in her defeated pose. He had shifted himself to his side, elbow to the ground, resting his head lazily on the palm of his hand. He continued fiddling with the knife in his hand, grinning.

She felt Itachi's grip loosen just a bit. _'A little more, you bastard…'_

"Sasori killed you," Itachi started, "But you didn't die. Why is that?"

Sakura simply continued staring down ahead of her.

"I had never seen _that_ jutsu, myself, but I had heard about it as a rumor. Though, I had doubted its existence outside of the Sannin Tsunade's repertoire. Seems she has enough trust to teach you what can be construed as a forbidden jutsu."

She knew what was coming, somehow she knew… And he wasn't letting up on his grip, and she was beginning to feel hopeless…

"I'm sure your knowledge of Akatsuki is limited, so I can guess you don't know about our Jutsu Taizou. Simply put- you're going to give me the secrets to that technique which brought you back from the brink of death."

Simply put? He had no clue!

'_So they hoard jutsu, hm? Reminds me of a certain Snake…' _Sakura tried to bite back her resentment. "Or else?"

"There are worse things than death," he impressed down on her with a voice of foreshadowing.

Feigning her posture of complete defeat, she let out a sigh and forced a tremor through her body. Almost as though she willed it so, Itachi's grip on her loosened even more.

His smug exterior didn't go unnoticed. "You'll find this option more agreeable," he said with ease, letting up on his hold. He noticed her shift to the balls of her feet, but without suspicion of her possible treachery, he continued to lore his dominance over her. "Once I copy that jutsu, we can decide on our next actions."

Sakura's head stayed focused on the floor, her hair having fallen around her face in a shroud. It shielded the emotions stirring on her features, the smirk gracing her lips, the moment she breathed out steadily and inhaled as much precious air as possible… Then she struck with all the strength she had been gathering to her legs…

She threw all her force backwards, slamming her back into Itachi's lower body, inherently throwing him backwards to collide with the table in the middle of the room. Turning her body with the impact, she took a sure-footed leap for the entrance to the outside. Reminding herself in that split second that she would get into the treetops and run for her life.

Not even a moment later she found herself in the opposite direction she planned on taking, body smashed violently against the wall with firm fingers wrapped around her slim neck. Her feet weren't touching the floor anymore, Itachi holding her up by the throat, anger burning behind his Sharingan eyes. He didn't speak a word- actions spoke much louder.

She gaped at him with fear as the black wheels of his eyes started turning feverishly…

-----

Closing her eyes as quickly as she could, taking in strangled breaths… she realized her breathing was quite audible all of the sudden. Like a rasp. The ringing in her ears was growing ferocious. And the biting anxiety deep within her was climbing to an overwhelming climax, threatening to eat her whole.

She flung her eyes open, wide and afraid, realizing she wasn't in familiar surroundings anymore. There was no way to tell where she was at that very moment, and like a negative photo the uneasiness of red on black flooded every part of her vision. And the smell of blood, the feeling of despair…

"**You're too eager to die**," a smooth voice spoke from outside her realm of space. Like the sudden voice of some kind of god, thundering from the heavens. "**Your naivety concerns me. You obviously don't know who you're dealing with, otherwise you'd just comply and I wouldn't have to show you what fate awaits you if you try any more foolish stunts**." 

She wanted to snap back with some kind of clever retort, but she found it impossible. Impossible for a few reasons-

One being sheer horror.

And the other being that it seemed at some point during the exchange her voice box was _torn_ from her throat. _Literally_.

Sakura let out a painful wail, the sound of air escaping her open neck… sinews flapping as the blood spewed forth… causing her to vomit where she stood frozen in complete and total fear. She grasped at her throat with her hands, trying to stop the blood that flowed from her gaping wound. She felt as if she was about to die.

Correction- she was positive she was about to die.

A chuckle permeated the air like lightning. "**You aren't going to die**," the voice cut in smoothly, "**Not if you obey what I say and stop acting out of your league. This is my curse, Sakura, the Mangekyou. I can keep you here for as long as I need to. I can find your deepest secrets, your deepest fears, and make you experience them. I can come up with things worse than your deepest horrors on a whim. Do you understand what I'm saying**?"

Feeling the tinges of insanity creeping around her every pore, she could feel his whims all too well. Nodding her head hectically, still grasping her throat, she let him know she was listening. He had more than her undivided attention now. She wanted to punch herself for being so ambitious before. Hell, she almost regretted every single pig-headed thing she ever committed during her life at this moment.

"**Don't beat yourself up over it, girl, we live and learn… Don't we**?"

--------------------------

Kisame knew from the very moment Sakura started shaking violently against the wall and by how much perspiration dripped down her now white face what Itachi had done to her. For a split second he actually felt bad for the girl. He knew first hand what those eyes could do.

Abating his own shiver of remembrance, he opted in leaving the scene to find some lunch instead. He didn't like to hear women cry, anyway. At least not in the way she was going to be any moment now.

-

Itachi's eyes only played their game for a couple seconds, but inside his mind he made it feel like a couple hours to the limp girl before him. He hadn't exactly hoped it would come down to this, but he needed to gain some semblance of control over the headstrong female.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes, cutting off the genjutsu. He watched as some of the color returned to Sakura's face and the flaccid look in her eyes turned back into shining emerald. This time though, when her eyes met his, she had genuine fear. She wasn't going to fight back this time.

With nothing more than a glance, he let her crumble to the floor where he released his grip, turning on his heels and leaving the room silently. 

-

Sakura gripped the sides of her head frantically, tugging on her disheveled pink lochs. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she panted for air. Choking out sobs. Knowing now that she had been in an illusion, she still couldn't help but continue grasping at her very intact throat with shaking hands.

The realization that she had been wrong all along smacked her in he face. She knew Itachi was dangerous, she had read the bingo book. She knew what he was capable of- or at least she thought she knew. He killed his entire family, drove her dear friend to insanity, killed countless hunter-nin and ANBU… But none of that compared to this new feeling.

She desperately clung to any semblance of normality around her at that very moment. She didn't want to admit that there was a slim chance she would escape this alive.

The last images of the inside of his illusion tugged at the corners of her consciousness like a nightmare. 

When he spoke to her, it felt like lightning was striking the earth at her feet. The red lit with more red, and the crimson flowing from her throat glowed with a brightness she had never seen before. She choked on her own blood for what felt like at least a couple hours, never dying, but continually feeling the pain. At moments she looked up at the red world, the black moon, screaming for an escape route. Mindlessly counting the seconds that passed…

-

She reeled the images in her mind, over and over again, like a movie. Trying to remember. Something had happened for a split second inside his illusion, wound with importance.

Five seconds before the maelstrom ended, she had caught a small figure in her peripheral vision.

One second left and she swore she saw the small hands of a child reaching out to grip her palms. In that one last second, she remembered, an unusual wave of relief coincided and clashed with the madness around her. The insanity faltering only for that single, fleeting moment…

-

Staying in her sitting position on her knees, Sakura lowered her head to the floor. Anyone who might have passed by at that moment would have assumed she was in the depths of prayer.

They would have been half-right.


	4. Prelude REVISED

**REVISED:** 4/7

-

**Spiral Out**  
By: Ane S. Thesia  
Beta'd by: Lally

**Chapter Four: Prelude**

**-**

**-  
**

* * *

. 

When Itachi was 7 years old, he graduated from the Konoha Academy at the top of his class. When he was 8, he mastered the Sharingan. At age 10 he passed the Chuunin exam with little effort. At 13 he lead his own squad of ANBU.

At that same age, he found out a terrible secret the Uchiha Clan would live to regret. At that young, innocent age of 13, Itachi became a mass murderer.

-

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((0)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

And I find it kind of funny.  
I find it kind of sad.  
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had.  
I find it hard to tell you ´cause I find it hard to take.  
When people run in circles, It's a very very…

_Mad world_

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((0)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

_-_

A young man's story begins anew, sleeping alone in a forest on the hard ground, nothing protecting him from the elements but the clothes on his back. He's tossing and turning in the midst of a terrifying nightmare not even his bag full of weapons can help him satisfy. When he awakens with a start, a nearby tree takes the brunt of eight shuriken he hadn't even seen himself withdraw and throw.

This has been a new kind of ritual over the past three weeks- ever since he fled from his home and Konoha, becoming a wanted S-Class criminal…

Ever since he killed everyone in his clan and ground a knife laced with fear and hurt into his younger brother's heart.

_- _

Itachi stood up slowly, letting out a low groan as his muscles stretched lazily and his joints popped. Bringing his clasped hands up above his head, he stretched his shoulders, yawning.

He had yet to get used to the constantly wet climate of the eastern border of Fire Country, it was taking too long for his body to adjust to the humidity. Why he had chosen to travel east was beyond him; he just knew he had never gone this way before. The attacks by ANBU Hunter-nin had been becoming less and less frequent the closer he got to Kirigakure, which was also a plus. He knew somehow that once he crossed the strait to the main village of Mist, he would be in a situation where he could disappear into anonymity, relax long enough to think.

The sun was coming up on the horizon with dull blue hues, but the moon was still visible in the sky. He guessed it was about 6a.m. now. He took a moment to re-tie his long, black hair into a low ponytail, covered up his burned-out campfire to get rid of any evidence he had been there, and continued on his path towards the sea.

_-_

The dilapidated port town on the edge of Fire Country marked his real descent out of the figurative 'rain cloud' that had been following him for weeks now. Since the entire village revolved around the port in and out, it only took him a few minutes to find a ferry across to the country of Water. He stole no glances and left no marks, only one thing on his mind. Rest. He planned on finding a nice deserted area or maybe an abandoned house and staying there for at least a week to get himself together and figure out what he was going to do. He wished the sting of his treachery would wear off soon…

Little had he known, it may have been fate drawing him to his current destination.

_- _

Not five minutes after departing the boat, Itachi found himself almost brained by a giant man who wasn't watching where he was going. It looked like he was running for his life, but the smile on his face told differently. By the shear size of his 'attacker', he was trampled with ease in his wake.

"Whoa there, kid," Itachi heard from above him, "Didn't see ya, my bad!" Followed by a nervous kind of laughter and the glint of two rather large canine teeth.

Itachi hesitated on the ground for a moment, fighting off the need to rub his sore backside from the impact of the hard stone-covered ground. He glared up at the man above him, eyes widening when he realized he was looking into the black-outlined but pure white eyes of a blue-tinted... man? He was certainly a human of _sorts_- it only took a few moments to realize it wasn't actually some kind of hyper-evolved fish in front of him, but the result of a bloodline he'd never seen before. He took note of the giant bandage-wrapped zan battou on his back.

Itachi cleared his throat, throwing another killing look upwards, trying not to feel the wavering in his gut.

"Watch where_ you're going_," he ground out icily, pulling himself up and fixing his backpack before walking forward to grind his shoulder in the Shark's own as he passed.

He wasn't particularly in the mood to fight, but he couldn't help but outwardly show his displeasure to the clumsy bastard.

The man grabbed out at Itachi's shoulder. "Why you---!"

Receiving a glare that could have knocked him literally dead, he only faltered for a moment before letting out a loud 'guffaw' of laughter.Gripping the kid's shoulder, he spat with ill-humor. "You have a lot of anger for someone your size, brat! Might I kick some sense into that tiny brain of yours?"

"Don't fucking _touch_ me," Itachi spat with an unusually calm voice considering the anger in his words. Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them back up to display his own bloodline limit.

The Shark pulled his hand away abruptly, in awe. "Sharingan?"

There was a moment of strange silence between the two before the loud ruckus coming in their direction turned both their heads.

"There he is!" One man shouted, flailing a sword out from the sheath on his back. "You won't get away this time, Hoshigaki Kisame!"

"Hoshigaki…" Itachi mumbled, furrowing his brow for a moment in thought. Why did that name sound familiar?

The man with his sword drawn stopped a few yards away and eyed the two warily. Soon three more men were at his side, all sporting similar katana and Mist hitai-ate.

"Suichi-sensei, he has a partner?" the man on the far right questioned quietly.

The apparent leader of the bunch glared at Itachi for a moment, earning nothing but a derisive snort in return.

"Partner or not, you see that cut on his forehead protector? He's a rogue-nin. There's probably a bounty on his head in Fire Country."

"AH! Good thinking, Suichi-sensei!" The kid at his side might as well have clapped his hands at the thought.

"I don't have time for this," Itachi sighed. Inside he was berating himself for forgetting he was wearing his sin so loudly on his forehead. It had become too customary, like a second skin, he never even felt the headband in place anymore.

He needed to act quickly. Otherwise, his trip would have been for nothing. With the idea of relaxing somewhere in peace becoming a fleeting hope, he came to the conclusion that he'd need to slip away without causing a commotion and wear a Henge for a while.

But the man at his side was already in the process of drawing his own sword, ready to shed some blood on this beautiful spring morning. This was just the commotion Itachi wanted to avoid.

"Nehan, Shouja no Jutsu," Itachi spoke quickly, forming the appropriate seals.

All four attackers fell to the ground as abruptly as the Genjutsu was cast, putting them into a deep sleep.

Itachi could hear Kisame give a dejected sigh in response. "That was awful passive considering the look in your eyes just a few minutes ago."

Without a word, Itachi made his way past the sleeping men, stepping around their bodies as he passed to continue down the road into the awaiting village. He stopped, though, the moment he heard Kisame regard him.

"Uchiha," he spoke gruffly, "You've betrayed your village to come to the Mist? What's your business here?"

Itachi didn't respond. So Kisame continued…

"Well, honestly I don't care… I'm on my way out anyway. But I was told to report to Leader if any potential candidates came my way." He scratched the back of his head momentarily, heaving a loud, open-mouthed yawn. "Wouldn't surprise me if you were already noted on, everyone knows about your clan's bloodline."

Itachi couldn't stop the twitch induced by the mention of his clan at that moment. And Kisame didn't let it go unseen.

"Sore spot? Haha… Anyway, like I was saying…"

In the blink of an eye he felt the cold, sharp steel of a kunai grazing the back of his neck, and an angry whisper creeping over his skin.

"Either shut your mouth or get to the point, fish."

Itachi was met with a hesitant laugh.

Kisame raised his hands in mock defeat. "Heh… come on now, we all know you don't _really_ feel like fighting right now…"

Without a second glance he could chop the kid in half with his Samehade… But business comes first, he reminded himself.

Itachi simply dug the knife a little deeper into rough skin, only drawing a small amount of blood from its leathery reaches.

"You've never heard of us, but I'm sure you'll be impressed. Five days. Come with me and you'll meet Akatsuki. We don't disappoint." A wide grin stretched across his features. Leader would definitely promote him for bringing a famed Uchiha into their fold.

"Akatsuki…" Itachi lowered his kunai and slipped it back into his pack.

With a nod, the two continued back up the path to the ferry where they'd no doubt have to threaten the port workers with their lives in order to get back across again. No bother.

_-_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_-_

They spent two days in relative silence, much to Kisame's annoyance. All he knew was that the Uchiha's first name was Itachi and he left his village without a plan as to where he was going.

Somehow he knew that was the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

On the third night, the two found themselves once again amongst silence. Their campfire popped and crackled, giving the general tense mood a dimly lit orange hue that danced and threw long shadows up to the treetops. Kisame unconsciously poked the fire every few seconds with a sharpened stick, throwing glances towards the mysterious man perched in the tree above where he sat.

He couldn't help but wonder what the guy was always thinking- it seemed he always functioned with his eyes closed and a defeated posture. Suspicious might have been the word he wanted to describe him as. Every potential chance to fight had always been turned down with cold sighs and shakes of the head. It seemed uncharacteristic, and underneath it all, annoying. Though Kisame had to admit that he didn't know what 'characteristic' really was for the guy.

"Oi, Itachi?"

Kisame continued looking above him at his traveling partner. He was resting his back against the thick tree trunk, left leg splayed out the length of the branch he sat on, the other dangling over the side. Hands fiddling with a kunai, constantly busy but eyes still closed in contemplation.

"Hm." Was his response.

Standing up to get a better vantage point, Kisame decided he would at least force this total silence issue into the dirt.

"So, you've never said anything about _it_-," he breathed deeply before asking bluntly, "Why did you leave Konoha?"

Silence. Hell, if you could be more silent than silence, that's what it would have been.

Kisame growled deep in his throat.

"So that's how it is, then?" he snapped, "I take you with me, do you a _favor,_ and you treat me like some kind of hindrance. Really, I'm shocked, I'd have thought you'd be a little less of an asshole for someone who has not a single ally in this world at the moment."

More silence. Somewhere in the surrounding forest, an animal met its fate at the hands of a predator, letting out a final wail before more quiet.

Kisame continued, his anger rising. "What the FUCK is your problem, anyway? That aloof bullshit might work on women—"

"Doing me a favor?" The question was almost inaudible on the wind ruffling the leaves above.

"Hell, yes, doing you a favor! You think I walk around recruiting just any pip-squeak I run over in the streets? Akatsuki is an elite organization." Anger unchecked, Kisame scoffed, "I don't know what I was thinking, I haven't even seen you fight yet. You could be some kind of _Uchiha reject_, that's why you're roaming around alone."

He seemed to think of this revelation for a moment before continuing. "Yeah, actually, now that I think on that a bit I'll guarantee that's what you are. I'll bet your clan got sick of such a pompous, _weak_ little _bastard_---"

He cut himself off when his bantering finally garnered the reaction of deep red Sharingan eyes piercing the night. Itachi gripped the kunai in his hand with white knuckles.

Kisame reached for his Samehade with a smirk lacing his lips. "Ha… now, now…" This is what he wanted- finally he would have a little fun.

Before he could even bring his sword up to pull the wrappings off, though, the kunai buzzed passed his right ear at amazing speed.

"Hey! What the hell?!"

"You're noisy," Itachi warned, dropping from his resting place and nodding at something over his companion's shoulder.

Kisame turned around, alarmed to see the body of a man in ANBU gear sticking out from the nearby underbrush, kunai inbedded in his neck. The gurgling ceased after a moment and he twisted back around, looking at Itachi questioningly.

"I didn't hear that guy there- Konoha ANBU?"

Itachi nodded, eyes flicking back and forth in the darkness. "And not the last, I sense three more nearby now." He brought his hand back from his waist-pouch, more kunai nestled between his knuckles.

Kisame looked stunned at the young man before him. All this time he'd been trying to pick a fight with him, letting his senses get away. He silently laughed to himself, drawing the wrappings away from his zan battou. "Hey, uh…"

"No time."

Itachi jumped back and deflected incoming shuriken; throwing a few of his own in the direction they came from. Tensing his eyes against the pitch-black backdrop, he gave Kisame a tight nod before disappearing from sight.

-

Keeping his sword balanced on his shoulder now, Kisame grinned sadistically, trusting that his new comrade knew what he was doing. "Come out, come out…" his voice dropped into the blackness.

Almost if on command, three men wearing ANBU masks stepped into the small clearing of their campsite. One with a Dog-face mask crouched down to check the one on the ground, feeling no pulse and wrenching the kunai from his throat in anger.

Bird-mask spoke first, words dripping with venom. "Uchiha Itachi, by order of the Sandaime Hokage, we're here to capture and arrest you. In any other situation I'd offer you the chance to come peacefully," he drew his katana swiftly before continuing, "but for you, we can make an exception."

Kisame simply continued smiling his toothy smile. "As you can see, there's no Uchiha to be found here. But I'm not one to disappoint in entertaining some _visitors_…" With a chuckle, he brought his sword off his shoulder and held it straight in front of his body, nodding readily.

Even with the dimly lit surroundings, Kisame was quite recognizable.

"S-Class criminal, Hoshigaki Kisame," Boar-mask signaled to Bird-mask. A nod of knowing from their apparent leader prompted a withdrawn sword and the metallic 'zip' of garret wire from the other.

Without a moment's notice, the fight began. Kisame easily blocked the incoming swordplay, slashing Samehade into the shoulder of one of his attackers. He jumped back just in time from the wire sailing in his direction, glinting in the moonlight.

"Heh! You guys are ANBU Hunters? Pathetic!"

Boar-mask, wounded but angry, clutched his sword tighter in resignation. Shifting a glance at his Dog-masked partner, they both advanced. Wire flew again, slipping a loop over the edge of Kisame's sword. He pulled with all his body, bringing the sword forward but not out of its owner's protective grasp. The other ANBU took the opportunity to lunge at the Shark, intent on the kill.

No one heard the impatient sigh or the rushing kunai.

The sword-wielding Boar collapsed mid-stride, sharp projectiles sticking from his throat and chest, blood gushing unrelenting onto the cold forest floor. Dropping his sword, he grasped at his throat as he struggled for breath on the ground at Kisame's feet.

"Hey…" Kisame said begrudgingly, throwing a glance to his left.

Another sigh. "With guys this weak, it's hardly worth breaking a sweat, Kisame." To his own surprise, he couldn't suppress a darkly coated chuckle, earning another sadistic grin from his partner.

The garret-wielding Dog-mask tried to hold his defensive posture, still clutching the wire around Kisame's sword. "Sudeki-sama! The Uchiha…!" But he faltered, looking back and forth, trying to steal a glance behind him. He realized he was alone.

"Sudeki-_sama _is over that way," Itachi pointed, covering a grin by tilting his head downward. "He didn't put up a fight… not like I remember him back when we used to spar together" He tsked disapprovingly.

The ANBU member's shaking, be it from fury or horror, reverberated down the razor wire to Kisame's Samehade, earning him condescending laughter at its fullest. "Considering a suicide jutsu?" Kisame cooed.

In all reality, Dog-mask really was. Silently deciding on the most destructive way to go out, hoping he could catch them off guard and take the two criminals down with him.

Not that he had a chance before a giant sword crushed through his sternum, collapsing his lungs and tearing its way brutally between his shoulders and out his back.

They never stood a chance.

"Hm. Well, that escalated quickly," Kisame stated cheekily, wrenching his sword from the man's body with a sickening noise. "And here I thought you were trying to kill me with bad aim before."

Throwing a grin over his shoulder, he sauntered back to their dwindling campfire and sat down to lean on the huge oak once again, as if nothing had just happened.

Without a sound, Itachi took up his last position on the branch above. He closed his eyes and smiled for the first time in a while. The adrenaline was wearing off, but it left that burning satisfaction in its wake.

"Expect that to happen often," he spoke softly to the man below him, earning a low chuckle.

"Thanks for the tip."

-

Okay, so Kisame had been wrong. He admitted that now, although inside his head, because he'd never apologize for jumping to conclusions. But what had this kid done to earn nightly ANBU attacks? It'd spill eventually, he had the feeling. Not that he minded either way, because he'd already given Itachi a taste of what his own presence brought in _his_ home country. They shared that common bond now, he contemplated. Both had entire countries damning their names.

_The start of a beautiful friendship?_ Kisame cleared his throat and held back a laugh.

"I assassinated ten powerful Daimyo in my country and traveled with a group of guys from Mist for a while…" he stated, out of the blue.

Itachi inwardly wondered how long Kisame had been thinking about saying that. Not that he really cared either way; it was all just curiosity bringing him on this journey anyway. That, and he didn't have anywhere else to be...anymore.

His response slipped out without a thought, and it came so coolly that even he was surprised at his discloser. He'd never said it out loud before, and he couldn't help but feel the sting of true realization.

"I killed the Uchiha clan."

He heard a shifting sound below and tilted his head slightly to look down for a reaction. Coal-black eyes met beady white for a moment of mutual understanding. They were both screwed. Really. Both having committed the ultimate betrayal from their respective homes.

The main difference between the men was that one found it amusing, while the other still silently wallowed in a form of self-pity so thick it could have drowned him.

"Wow…" Kisame cut in bluntly, throwing a stray stick on the fire, "You're pretty fucked up, huh?"

There was that glare he liked so much.

"How old are you, like what, seventeen? Eighteen?"

Silence. _Oh… not this again…_ Kisame snorted.

"Thirteen."

If eyes could jump from sockets on their own…


	5. Come Clarity

**Spiral Out  
**By: Ane S. Thesia

Beta-read by: Griggling

Chapter Five: Come Clarity

* * *

"**Oi!"**

Sakura stirred underneath the foot prodding her uncomfortably in the ribcage. She had been enjoying the near silence and the darkness behind her eyelids, and the birds outside chirping and singing relentlessly. It gave her a semblance of peace for the past hour, even when she found her mind bouncing back and forth from lethargy to distant memories.

"How long are you going to sit there?" Kisame inquired with obvious annoyance.

Letting out a loud grumble, Sakura forced her puffy eyes open and looked up from her position on the floor. "I don't know. Does it really matter?" She had wanted that to sound mean, or sassy, but all she could manage was _apathetic_.

"I'm sure the floor is incredibly comfortable, but you can't stay there forever. You stink and you're covered in blood. Go take a bath." For a moment, Kisame wondered if he came across _too_ concerned. He cleared his throat, adding, "And, really, I'm getting sick of looking at you."

"Leave me alone."

He sneered, pushing into her ribs again with his boot.

She reached out a shaky hand to grip the intrusive object. "Where's Itachi?"

The man above her grunted, pulling his foot away. Ignoring her question, he bent down and grabbed her under the arms, pulling her to her feet against her will. Her knees let out sickening pops, and her shins were bright red from the hard floor.

She swiveled for a moment at the dull ache in her legs, putting a hand on Kisame's chest in what could have been misconstrued as a gentle thank you, but was really just to push him away from the uncomfortable close proximity he stood at.

He rolled his eyes. "Go through that doorway," he motioned lazily behind where they stood, "Go left, the door at the end of the hall is the bathroom. This place is old, so you'll have to fill the tub using the water basin and heat it from outside."

"Uh…thanks…" Sakura said with uncertainty, waving him off and heading down the hall.

Kisame watched in interest as she ambled away, rubbing his chin lightly in thought, which brought him back to earlier that day…

--

He'd been in the kitchen for only a few moments after leaving her and Itachi alone when he had felt an unusual draft of chakra seep into his senses. When he peeked out to look across the hallway to where they were, Itachi was dropping her from his grasp to the floor. It was that moment when Kisame noticed a peculiar look about him he couldn't place.

Trying to read Itachi's emotions was like trying to read brail, in his opinion. And he wasn't about to try and learn. All he needed was their intuitive nuances in battle, nothing more. But despite that reasoning, and the gap that never let their relationship get too deep, he had still subconsciously catalogued things.

The air his partner sported as he stomped down the hall to his destroyed room reminded him of years before when they were both much younger. It was that faraway expression of pain and listlessness he'd often seen when Itachi didn't think he was being watched.

The Mangekyou Sharingan was more than a mystery to everyone but it's owner. Kisame always assumed it caused some sort of damage every time it was used, but he'd never know based on how often Itachi resorted to it…

At that moment he couldn't help feeling somewhat impressed by the female ninja. Itachi had said she'd defeated Sasori alongside an old woman, and then pretty much died…

Then the way she put up such a fight against him not even a full day later, only to wake up and try again.

There were too many shinobi these days that were more than willing to throw their lives away. This one seemed to have a purpose that exceeded expectation…

--

Reserving the fact that he'd probably have to kill her later when Itachi was done copying her technique, he walked out to the front steps of the shrine and gave up on the idea of deep thought.

-

----------------------------------------------

Sakura was beyond tired at this point. Too much emotional strain and fighting was wearing on her, as usual, though she had gotten used to it over the years. Lack of sleep was almost her forte anymore, ever since Sasuke left Konoha three years ago to find Orochimaru, and then Naruto to train with Jiraiya. But, despite her insomnia and constant worrying, she trained her body and mind to rival her mentor Tsunade.

Her chest tightened at the thought of the Hokage worrying about her. And she knew Naruto and Kakashi were probably head over heels freaking out about what may have happened to her. For a moment she wondered if they thought she was dead, but they were smarter then that, she reminded herself. She knew without a second thought that Konoha wouldn't let her disappear so easily. She knew Tsunade would send ANBU out to pursue her. Now it was just a matter of living long enough for them to intercept her…

The moment she stepped into the bathroom, she grimaced. Kisame wasn't lying; the place was definitely old-school. She slid the (literally) paper-thin door closed behind her.

The entire room was constructed out of thick un-sanded wooden planks, and adorned with a cold stone floor. Square room, no decorations, no heater, one window...

Straight ahead of her was the 'bathtub'. She sighed inwardly when she realized it was nothing but an oversized wooden barrel lined at the bottom with metal, elevated above a fireplace with access from the outdoors. The gusts of air coming from the intrusive hole in the wall made the tiny hairs on her legs stand on end.

To the immediate left of the door stood another large wooden barrel full of what must have been rain water, based on the metal gutter that jutted from the ceiling above it and stopped inches from the surface.

The 'toilet' against the far left wall was laughable. A simple wooden crate with a hole in it, which she concluded led to some kind of water run-off underneath.

She sighed again, deciding that it was now her second language to do so. And grimacing was going to be her new favorite expression. This was a very, very far cry from the luxuries she was accustomed to, living in an actual town with actual commodities that she took for granted until now.

_'I guess being around people who won't snap and kill you at any moment is also a luxury…'_

It took at least fifteen trips back and forth from the basin to the tub with a shallow jug before it was full enough to be called a bath. She was about to head out to start the fire when the sudden noise outside almost made her jump from her own skin.

"Wha… what are you doing?" Hunching down to look below the tub, she could see blue hands forming a fire jutsu and lighting the logs underneath ablaze.

"I'm peeping at you taking a bath," Kisame said sarcastically with a coy smile, leaning down to catch a glimpse of angry green eyes through the fire that separated them. He laughed when he recognized the blush creeping up her cheekbones. "Thought I'd be nice and stoke the fire for you, got a problem with that?"

Sakura couldn't tell if that last comment was supposed to be an innuendo or not. Either way, she took note of his 180-degree personality.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked with suspicion.

He stood up from his crouched position and leaned his back against the outside wall. Speaking loudly, she could hear his muffled voice. "I'm not _always_ an asshole."

Sakura pouted for a moment at his comment, reminding herself not to be fooled by the man's temporary lapse of chivalry. "Kisame-san…?" she spoke lightly.

"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow at her sudden innocent demeanor.

She was half bothered he was still only a few feet from the place she was about to be vulnerable. But she reminded herself that formalities were out the window now, she wasn't in her element anymore. She'd have to grin and bear it.

"Can I borrow a kunai?"

"If you weren't insane I'd say yes, kunoichi," he said, putting emphasis on her status as a shinobi for his reasoning.

She sighed again, mustering honey to her voice. "I want to shave my legs…"

Silence.

'_I wouldn't trust me either…' _she thought with a grin.

To her surprise, a kunai came flying in from the open window where the wall met the ceiling above the bath, lodging itself in the wall across the room just above the doorframe. Climbing up onto the water basin to retrieve it, she muttered a 'thank you', happy when she received no response indicating hopefully that he was no longer outside.

Sakura peeled her bloody clothing off piece by piece, silently wondering how she was going to repair the random holes in her shirt from places she had been cut by Sasori. The bloodstains would never go away, but she'd be damned at this point if she really cared.

She carefully folded everything and put her ragged clothing on the edge of the shelf by the tub, noticing the clean towels and soap, which she grabbed hastily. Undoing the bindings over her breasts, she stepped into the bath and made a sour face at the cold water tickling her skin. But it would have to do.

She plunked down quickly and went under, trying to scoop the warmer water from the bottom to mix with the rest.

Her bath was in silence; savoring the scent of cedar the bar of soap coated her skin and hair with. She dragged the kunai down her legs and under her arms gingerly, smiling as she remembered the last time she had to 'rough it'.

Sakura allowed herself to relax long enough to actually think about her situation. She leaned forward on the edge of the 'tub', exposing her back to the chilly air permeating from the window above. Resting her cheek against her left arm on the rough edge of the barrel, the other hung lazily over the outside. Her eyes closed heavily the more she relaxed, and she listened to the echoing noise of the kunai she clenched in her right hand chipping at the side of the barrel.

'_Okay…think, girl, think…' _she squeezed her eyes shut as if it'd help her get the thoughts in line. _'When I fought with Kisame I was weakened from my last fight, so with that in mind… perhaps I could kill him with the help of Katsuyu... But he's Akatsuki, so chances are there is something about him I don't know about, and he was probably holding back when we fought…'_

"**_There you go doubting yourself again, Sakura! What the hell is wrong with you!" _**her inner voice screamed angrily, **_"You don't have anyone but yourself to rely on now, and if you give up already, you will…"_**

'Alright, alright…I need to think along the lines of me actually being 'able' for once. If I do defeat Kisame, I would still have to deal with Itachi. And there's no way in hell I could ever defeat him. So that means, I can't rely on brute force. I need to think of a plan that goes beyond that, something clever…Maybe I can use a genjutsu? No, Sharingan sees through that doesn't it…hmm…'

She realized at that moment she had been approaching her situation from a completely wrong angle. Although she had every right to be incredibly pissed off, and scared, she knew deep down that she was letting her anger dictate her common sense for the past two days.

'_He wants my jutsu, that's all," _she silently reassured herself_, "Whether or not he plans to kill me afterwards is beyond me right now…but…'_

Thinking back to the day Tsunade taught her the Souzou Saisei, it became abundantly clear that she had more than one option in out-smarting her captors.

Tsunade had made sure to stress the dangers involved in doing the jutsu, telling her right out that it shaved years off your life. The cells in your body had a set amount of times they could possibly regenerate themselves, and you couldn't defy the base of physiology in this instance. It was all or nothing; there was no gray area.

_That_ was the first warning.

The second warning she was given scared the holy hell out of her and reinforced why the jutsu was only to be used as a last resort. It also became clear why only people like themselves could do it...

If you didn't have an unrivaled type of chakra control and medical insight, you could technically kill yourself doing it.

The cards were in Sakura's hands.

She would teach the jutsu to Itachi, and Kisame if that was the case. They'd never know she told them the wrong way to do it… not until it was too late and every cell in their bodies fizzled and popped with destructive chakra. Whatever situation they'd be in at the moment of use would spiral out of control ten fold; they'd never survive it.

Now all she needed to do was put up an amazing front until that time, and continue biting back the feeling that her plan was uncharacteristically sadistic.

Despite the fact that both men were killers… she knew deep down her place in the world was not one of judge and jury. It wasn't in her spirit to cause death. She'd defend herself and others using the power she'd attained, but when it came down to it she much preferred the ability to heal the ones she cared about.

The undeniable fact was that she had aided in ending lives before. Along with almost everyone else she knew. That was the nature of this world. Live in and love your community, defend your comrades, get stronger as a ninja and pursue the goals of your Hokage.

_'I'm lucky to have been born into the peaceful Leaf. Though, the only thing separating us from them is…'_

--------------------------------------------------------------

Kisame turned away from the large bowl of rice he was preparing to meet with Itachi's cool stare. "What?"

"How long has she been in there?"

He thought for a moment, biting a few stray grains from his fingertips. "Hmm, I'd say an hour or so."

Itachi didn't say anything as he careened from the doorway of the small kitchen and halted outside the washroom door. He listened for any signs of movement from inside, met with complete silence. A debate as to whether or not she could have escaped with both of them in the house ensued for a moment, but he shrugged it off.

"Kunoichi?" he questioned through the door.

Silence.

"I'm coming in," he stated, wrapping his fingers around the doorframe and pushing it aside.

He stopped in his tracks, just barely across the thresh-hold of the room, when he saw the sleeping form in the tub. She was draped over the edge of the tub with her head resting on her arm, half dried pink hair cascading delicately over her shoulders.

A lop-sided smirk forced it's way onto his lips, and he didn't know why. Something about the way she allowed herself to fall asleep naked in the presence of two enemies tickled him, especially after her displays of aptitude previously. He chose to clear his throat at that moment, loudly.

Sakura's eyes shot open at the sudden noise in the room, and almost on reflex her right hand shot out and chucked the kunai she had been clenching towards the sound. It met the frame of the door with a '**thwack**'.

She lifted her head from its position and her eyes scanned from sandaled feet up dark cargo-pants, over a netted chest, to meet intense crimson eyes… And then she did the only thing she could think of at that moment; she screamed.

Itachi squinted at the high-pitch squeal emanating from the female before him. Pulling the door back from where he had closed it enough to catch her kunai, he stepped into the bathroom and glared. She covered her mouth and turned beet red.

"Was that really necessary?"

Sakura sank low into the now chilling water until it covered her nose. She met his glare and then some with a spark of anger in her eyes.

"Damnit, Itachi, leave the girl alone. That was fuckin' horrid!" Kisame's voice drifted from the kitchen.

Itachi let out an annoyed sigh, still staring down at the perturbed female. "Get dressed. We're eating soon, then I want that jutsu. **Don't even think about getting violent this time**." He turned and started to close the door behind him before adding, "I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out what will happen this time if you do."

She could hear his heavy footsteps go down the hall a bit then stop. And then a barked "What I do?" from Kisame when the kunai in question whizzed past his head and buried itself in the wall.

"Stop. Giving. Her. Knives." She heard Itachi mutter pointedly.

Sakura's sense of humor couldn't deny the exasperation in his voice and she found herself smiling beneath the water. But that soon faded when she remembered that his threats were indeed not empty. She never wanted to experience that red world again, and she silently agreed that she'd rather be beaten within an inch of her life than go there again.

'But it'll be over soon. I'll teach him the technique then hopefully be free to go as I please…' 

She hoped upon hope that's how it'd play out, at least.

---

Ten minutes later Sakura found herself nervously traversing the hallway, red in the face. Her clothes needed to be washed, badly, so against her better judgment she chose to wear a towel out and ask them for some temporary attire.

'_This is so embarrassing… Complete strangers… Complete strangers…' _chided over and over again in her mind.

She wasn't exactly one to be uncomfortable with her body, not anymore. Tsunade's self confidence had kind of rubbed off on her, and then the hospital visits from training, not to mention all the missions she'd been on with nothing but men…

It had become second nature to expect strange moments, needless to say.

To her chagrin, she found herself dwelling on the way Itachi had barged into her bath like it was no big deal. And she also slapped herself in the face several times when she realized she enjoyed the moment when his eyes went from red to black before he left the room. They were like Sasuke's eyes, she had reflected. But strangely softer, complimented with dark, lush eyelashes…

'_He'd kill me with those same eyes,'_ she reminded herself diligently, feeling like an idiot.

And there were those damned black orbs again when she turned the corner into the main room, roaming up her exposed legs...

_'He's actually… kinda…more attractive than Sasuke-kun…'_

Itachi and Kisame were seated on opposite sides of the table in the middle of the room, eating from a large bowl of rice and a plate of charred fish. Didn't look exactly appetizing, but her stomach growled nonetheless. It had been days since she ate.

She coughed, turning red in the face again. "Uh, I know this is an odd request, but, I need some clothes… Mine are covered in blood, I need to wash them." She tore her eyes away from Itachi's stare to look past out the front door.

"You can borrow some of mine," Itachi cut in, "Eat first."

When she didn't move to join them, he simply rolled his eyes and grabbed another piece of fish with his chopsticks, placing it in his bowl of rice.

"I know you're hungry, we can hear your stomach from here…" He glanced up at her and gave a confused look when he realized she wasn't paying them mind. Her eyes were plastered past them out the doorway, and her mouth had dropped into a gape.

Sakura started sputtering, grabbing the top of her towel as she stepped backwards into the hallway.

There, in the door, stood a man in a completely blood-soaked Akatsuki robe. His insane smile was infectious.

In his mangled left hand, he held his own right arm. It wasn't connected to his body.

Sakura admitted she knew who he was. She recognized him as Sasori's partner. The fact that he was still alive left a bad taste in her mouth and a tinge of worry crept up her spine. If he was still alive, what became of Kakashi and Naruto? What about Gai, Lee… Neji and TenTen…?

"Hn, I recognize you from somewhere…" the blond spoke to her as he stepped inside from the porch, seemingly oblivious to how he looked at that moment. He absentmindedly tapped the side of his leg with his severed arm. "Meh, it'll come to me…hmm…"

Itachi placed his hands in his lap and looked up at his fellow Akatsuki member with a disinterested sigh. "Deidara, may I ask why you're standing in our house this moment without having been requested?"

Kisame snorted, never looking up from his food.

"His… his… HIS ARM… uh…" the only _apparently_ sane person in the room sputtered.

Itachi barely flitted an eyelash at Sakura's reaction, replying simply, "He's a bit for the dramatic…"

'_Get a grip!' _Sakura tried to remind herself_, 'These guys aren't normal…' _But she couldn't stifle the low groan or the way she kept backing away.

Deep inside, Sakura's inner medic told her she should rush to his aid. In retrospect, her more rational side kept yelling for her to clam up. She wasn't sure if they knew she could heal people other than herself. Stupid assumption, but she held to it for the moment.

Deidara stepped further into the room, dropping down next to the table, relieved to be off his feet finally. "Itachi-kun, you're so mean. I could die you know…"

Itachi ignored him and turned his attention to the stark white woman now cowering in the hallway. With a sound of displeasure, he pushed himself up from the table and approached her, noting the widening of her eyes as she watched him come near.

"Let's get you some clothes." He nodded his head towards his former bedroom.

-

Leaving her hand on the wall as she turned and walked towards the room, she shot looks at the raven-haired man as he followed close behind and reached out from behind her to open the door.

Sakura bit her bottom lip, staring at the gigantic hole in the wall, which she had caused the day before. Hesitating for a moment, she moved when a warm hand made it's way to her lower back and gently pushed her into the room, flinching when the door closed behind them.

Itachi strode past her towards the low set of drawers on the opposite wall. He reached in and pulled out a pair of pants and a shirt, replicas of his own outfit.

She realized she was staring at him when he turned back towards her and lifted an eyebrow. He tossed the clothes at her feet.

"There, get dressed."

"Okay…" She looked at him expectantly, "Um, are you going to leave or do you expect me to strip in front of you?" Her displeasure was obvious.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Strangely enough, I don't trust you to stay put in here," he said, throwing a glance at the wreckage across the room.

Okay, so, he had a point. There was no reason why he should trust her, but she didn't trust him either. Sakura stared blankly out the new 'doorway', a small look of satisfaction on her face. But this was going to get awkward, fast.

"I understand," she spoke, turning back to him, "But could you at least turn around or something? Otherwise, I can _stand here_ forever, I have no where to be at the moment." Her attempt at mimicking his cold exterior proved successful.

Itachi kept his expression blank despite the sarcasm and turn his back to her, stepping out onto the rocky remains of the former wall. From around the front of the building, he could hear Kisame and Deidara bickering through the front door.

Sakura stood still for a moment, making sure he wasn't going to suddenly turn around on her. Considering his nonchalance, it appeared he wasn't interested, anyway. To her relief.

Dropping the itchy white towel to her feet, she pulled the pants on in one swift movement, tying the drawstring. They were way too long for her, and baggier than she was used to, but it'd do for now. She was kind of thankful they were so big since it was getting colder by the day as the season headed into Fall. When she picked up the shirt she let out a very loud sigh; it was mesh, as was to be expected.

"Don't like the clothes?" his calm voice drifted over from outside. The moon was cutting through the trees in a striking way, casting a light shade onto his black hair.

She sighed again, pulling the shirt down over her bound chest, feeling suddenly self-conscious. "The shirt is mesh… Do you have something not so… see-through?"

"No."

He turned and stepped back into the room, thrusting his hands into his pockets and setting his eyes back on her. A small grin assaulted his lips when he saw how uncomfortable she was. "You're wrapped up, it's not like we can see anything."

"I'm cold," she spoke as if to herself, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

Giving her nothing more than a shrug, he continued past her to the door and opened it, motioning for her to follow. When she passed him into the hallway, he grabbed her shoulder, abruptly stopping her.

She shivered at the contact, pulling her arms in front of her chest defensively without realizing it. The look on his face was intense, and frightening… though she supposed that's what he was shooting for. His breath hit the back of her neck, making her even more uncomfortable.

"You're going to reattach Deidara's arms," he spoke into her back, feeling her shoulders knot with tension, "I saw the look you gave him. You're like an open book."

And with that he let her go, giving her a slight shove towards the opening to the main room. She couldn't hide the way her eyebrows furrowed down in anger, or the way her fists balled up. Sucking in a breath through her teeth, she entered the room with Itachi in toe. The need to go wild again ate at her best interests.

Kisame lifted a small cup of sake to his lips, fumbling with a laugh when he saw the two enter, enjoying some kind of silent joke.

Sakura stepped across the room carefully, eyeing the man who continued prodding her forward, stopping when she was halted before Deidara. She turned her gaze down to his mangled body, gulping at the situation. He was still sitting at the dinner table, still looking oblivious.

Kneeling down in front of him, she relaxed slightly when Itachi stepped away and gave her some breathing room.

"How do you expect me to do this? It's completely detached…" She continued staring at the limb sitting in his lap, shifting uncomfortably and looking him in the eye. "How are you even alive? You've lost a lot of blood…"

Deidara looked at her as if for the first time, and she recognized the glazed expression in his eyes of someone who is in shock. He seemed to be mouthing words but unable to vocalize.  
She reached out and placed a weary hand on what was left of his arm, rolling up the destroyed sleeve of his robe. It looked like he had shoved some kind of clay material into the wound at his elbow and cauterized it shut. That would have successfully stopped the bleeding, she guessed, but not the possibility of infection.

"Let me see your… arm…"

She picked up the severed limb from his lap and inspected it as best she could without recoiling. It wasn't a clean cut; that was for sure. She closed her eyes in thought.

"I need to think about this… I've never had to reattach a limb before, but I've assisted. I'll need a scroll and ink. Hot water… He probably has an infection, we need antibiotics."

Itachi looked down at the medic, thoughtfully annoyed. "How long will this take?"

She glared back up at him. "I don't know, _Itachi_. Why don't you just take him to a hospital?"

"If we had access to hospitals, why would I have you do it?" he inquired back with a blank stare.

Sakura opened her mouth to retort but nothing came. Yeah, that made sense… but she really didn't want to be doing this. Helping a man who had killed at least one of her friends wasn't on her regular to-do list.

"What do you guys usually do when you get hurt?"

"We don't normally get injured like _that_," Kisame piped up. "Deidara, how did you manage to get so messed up this time?"

He wasn't responding anymore, still just sitting next to the table with a glazed look on Sakura.

"Dei--?"

"He's in shock. He might not make it." Sakura stared up at Itachi trying to figure out if he cared or not. _'Is he just testing me or what? Does he care if his friend dies?'_

She didn't know why, but for some reason she felt compelled to take him up on the test. It wasn't in her nature to just let people die, but this was a special case. This was the enemy. But inside _that_ special case was _another_; she'd never had this level of situation to deal with yet. Her adrenaline was starting to pump with the idea that she could indeed do this and he would survive.

So she let her medic side take over. The situation needed to be taken control of; the other two unnaturally calm men in the room were obviously not going to do anything on their own.

She pointed straight in Kisame's face, never wavering. Not this time. "Kisame, listen; I need you to go to the nearest town and find an Apothecary. We need antibiotics. Just get as much as you can afford. If I am able to get this reattached, he could still die from infection."

"Pffft… since when did---"

"Do it." Itachi spoke softly, throwing an inescapably deliberate stare into his partner's eyes.

Without a sound, Kisame got up and grabbed his cloak from the floor, escaping into the darkness of the forest outside in mere seconds.

Itachi crouched down beside Sakura. "The closest town is two hours away, is that fast enough?"

She set her lips in a line, still thinking about how she would complete a medical jutsu she'd never done alone. "Honestly I don't know… I've seen this procedure take up to nine hours before. I don't even know if I have enough chakra… I haven't even eaten yet…"

The situation was looking grave, and they both felt it.

"We won't know until you try," Itachi stated, standing upright again. "Suzuri ink okay?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Perfect." _'They must make their own medical scrolls.'_

While he left to his room, Sakura pushed the dinner table out of the way up against the near wall. Stealing a moment to eat some leftover rice to sate the ache in her stomach, she found herself staring at the man who had crumbled to the floor moments ago. Anticipation was making her body shake.

"Why am I doing this…"

Itachi returned moments later with a fresh scroll and a large jar of ink.

"I'm going to ruin your floor, by the way."

He shrugged with indifference, leaving to boil some water in the kitchen.

And she set to work, going solely on memory, thanking the gods for the photographic memory she had been blessed with.

Ten minutes later, Sakura stood in the middle of the intricate design she had created in the center of the room. She had drawn a circle with a six-foot diameter, accompanied by numerous specific medical notes in kanji and other ancient signatures which littered the radius and outlying areas. The writing on the scroll would be her starting point; like a wick that would ignite the jutsu. She laid it on the floor just outside the circle and drew a few more lines of kanji leading from it to the center of the circle.

Itachi halted just inside the room with a pot of steaming water, taking in the sight. It was an impressive looking design he had never seen before. He shifted his gaze to the back of the medic kneeled on the floor, still meticulously fixing the signatures before her. Blinking, he opened up his Sharingan.

She turned around and looked at him for a moment, fixated on his crimson eyes.

"I need you to get that cloak off him, and his shirt, and wipe away as much blood as you can, please," she spoke professionally as she stood up and walked over to the hardly breathing body. "I'll need some of his hair to fill in the blanks if anything was lost from the bone…"

Undressing Deidara, Itachi reached down and grabbed the satchel on his waist. "This clay would work better, it's made from his body too." He reached in and grabbed a chunk of it, tossing it to Sakura.

She turned it over in her hands, pinching it between her fingers. "Interesting…"

Wounds cleaned and body undressed, Deidara was placed in the center of the circle. Sakura used the clay to 'attach' the severed arm at the elbow where it once was, which was pretty handy considering the amount of hair she was willing to cut from his head to 'tie' it on. He'd thank her later, she scoffed.

She took her place kneeling before the scroll on the floor, taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes. Itachi chose to sit and watch on the other side of the circle, studying her with his Sharingan.

"Try and copy all you want, I doubt you can do it," Sakura taunted with a soft voice as if to not wake up her patient.

The Sharingan user simply smirked. "You'd be surprised, don't underestimate this Kekkei Genkai. I already copied some of your Rebirth jutsu." It was like he knew just how to get under her skin…

_'Son of a bitch!'_ she raved for a moment, _'Alright… alright… don't worry about that right now, matter at hand…okay…I can do this!'_

She flung her eyes open, projecting her own will out into the room with a surge of chakra, and performed the hand seals.

Rat. Boar. Bird. Dragon. Serpent. Dragon. **_'Kaishin!'_**

Her hands slammed onto the unraveled scroll, sending a chain reaction of bright blue chakra to stream through the design on the paper and follow the trail of kanji to the circle before her. The design lit up with blue radiance, bathing the entire room in hue. The symbols lit up around Deidara's body, permeating energy that made his hair wave in reaction.

_'Too much chakra, tone it down…'_ she reminded herself, taking another deep breath and closing her eyes in meditation.

The symbols glowed slightly less as she withdrew the huge amount of energy she had poured in, giving just enough in her stead. The innermost design began to move in towards his giant wound, spiraling up his severed arm and dancing over the point of connection. The clay hissed and sizzled.

She wouldn't be able to stop until every scribed kanji had made its way into the effected area and reattached the bones. Muscle and tendon could be fixed manually if it failed to now. It was going to become an intense waiting game now, all alone in this junction, trying to maintain the correct chakra flow for an undetermined amount of time.

Itachi watched with wide eyes as the room glowed under the medical ninja's ministrations. He could feel the turmoil of chakra running in waves from the girl across the room, the look of pure concentration painted her features and small hints of sweat began to appear on her forehead. This was the medic's sermon. An amazing sight most people would never get to see, and he studied every moment of it like it'd be the last.

_'Her chakra control is top form. I haven't seen this kind of smooth refinement in many people…This is definitely Tsunade no Sannin's successor.'_

At that moment he was glad she was so deep in focus, because she might have spotted the slight covetous look scattered across his face as he roved her form with deep, crimson eyes.

* * *

"Commander…" 

"Yeah, I felt it too. The Genjutsu is still there, but that chakra is undeniable."

Four pitch black forms moved seamlessly through the treetops, closing in on the feeling enveloping the area. Their cloth-covered feet merely tickled the tiles on the top of the structure, giving away no evidence of their arrival.

* * *

--  
--

-- What's the deal with FFnet messing with my italics and paragraph spacing? Bahgahgah...

--

Okay, so, my brother came over with a cold on Wednesday with the sole purpose of getting me sick (or that's what I tell myself, he really just wanted to come hang out…). So by Thursday I was ill. I've been eating Sudafed and drinking orange juice non-stop for the past five days, and pulling my hair out while I write. This chapter pissed me off, needless to say, but a totally kickass person named Griggling came along and put some things into focus for me and beta-read what I wrote! So, now I feel it's okay to post this chappie. It's longer than usual, mainly because I wrote in chunks instead of right through. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I didn't enjoy writing it! Heheee…

Remember to drop me a review if you have anything to say!

XOXO

Ane S. Thesia


	6. Like You Better Dead

**Spiral Out**  
By: Ane S. Thesia  
Beta read by: Griggling

Chapter Six: Like You Better Dead

* * *

--

--

"Sir, if you're not more specific, I don't think I can help you."

Kisame messaged the skin between his eyes with irritation. "Antibiotics, whatever you got. I have 600 ryo on me, just give me something strong."

"There's more than one kind, _sir_. What's the ailment?"

He dropped his hand to his side and cracked his neck abruptly, causing the old woman to cringe. "Uh… severed arm?" He delighted in the shocked expression she gave him. "Infection, old woman, hurry it up."

She fumbled around her cart for a moment, producing two small bags. "This is the most potent thing I have for infection. You'll have to administer it intravenously. The syringe and needle are 100, herbs are 300. Do you have someone with you who knows how to work herbs into resin?"

"Yeah, yeah, here." He snaked the pouches from her hands, replacing them with the correct amount of cash. Tucking the supplies into his cloak, he turned without another word and started stalking back to the village entrance, readying for the long run back.

Despite the hour of night, the village was relatively busy. It was small compared to most, more like a place you stop to rest at on your way by. It didn't appear that there was any housing in it other than red-light hotels lined with blue lanterns. The rest of the buildings were supply depots, solo carts here and there selling random wares, and places to eat and drink. All kinds of sounds of ruckus flowed along the breeze from the open establishments.

"Oooh! Blue-saaamaa!"

Kisame looked up to his left, spotting two women waving from the second floor of a rather busy Inn. He sneered egotistically, showing his sharp teeth to the beckoning females. Lifting a hand, he gave them a curt wave. "No time tonight, ladies, things to do." He winked up at them from where he stood, having stopped below their window.

"Awwww… but we're _sooo_ lonely!" The woman with bright blond lochs spoke down to him with painted lips in a mock frown. Her black haired companion giggled teasingly, leaning out the window just enough to show a little skin to the passerby.

"Oh-ho, I bet." He chuckled, throwing them a devilish grin. The women giggled amongst themselves, earning a thoughtful smile from below. _'Maybe just for a little while…'_

A voice of pure mockery broke him from his 'inner battle'.

"Ooooo Fish-saaaaamaaaa!"

'_Shit, I know that voice.' _He winced, closing his eyes for a moment as he turned expectantly.

And he was correct. Akatsuki robes. One significantly taller man with his head and lower face covered, blaring white eyes much like his own. The other man, slicked back blond hair, smart-ass smirk, huge scythe climbing his back…

Kisame cleared his throat. "Kakuzu… Hidan... What a pleasure to see you," he spoke, obvious displeasure lacing his words.

Kakuzu simply grunted a 'hello' with a short nod, continuing past the two men into the hotel.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you weren't happy to see us, Kisame," Hidan teased with a smile, using his middle finger to tap his chin.

Kisame retorted with a crass grin. "That'd be an understatement."

At that moment, Hidan took on an uncharacteristically serious look, throwing his fellow Akatsuki member off slightly.

"What's with that expression?"

"It's actually a hell of a coincidence that we ran into you here, Kisame…" the blond spoke conspiratorially, "We just left the main base earlier after stopping in to speak with Leader. You'll never guess who we spotted leaving…"

* * *

There were a few instances over the years where Haruno Sakura found herself wondering if her 'time had come'.

The first time had been during the Chuunin exams a few years ago when she met Orochimaru. His killing intent sent shockwaves through her consciousness, feelings she had never even fathomed until that moment. And then hours later, standing with a shaking kunai in her fist, she defended her closest friends from his minions of the Sound. If Rock Lee hadn't shown up, she was sure she would have died.

Every time she looked back on those close moments that day, they never really seemed real.

The second time her mortality came into the limelight was a month later at the hands of Sabaku no Gaara. She hadn't been awake for the entire incident, having been knocked out when the Shukaku pinned her to a tree and began squeezing her life out. If Naruto hadn't been there, she was sure she would have died.

She had shyly thanked Sasuke for saving her after that day, only to find that Naruto had been the one to step up and risk his life to protect her. The thanks had felt empty either way.

The third time was only a couple days before the present. Beaten badly and stabbed through the gut with a poisoned blade. That time, however, it had been her own means that saved her life.

And then things were suddenly very much put into perspective. Sakura was naïve…

_-----------------------------------------------_

_The back of her neck tingled at the touch of his warm breath. It moved her hair ever so slightly, and the words that traveled on that breath clenched her heart and made her feel ill. _

_"Thank you, Sakura."_

_------------------- _

_His genuine smile lifted her spirits from a deep hole._

_"I will bring him back to us, Sakura-chan. It's a promise of a lifetime."_

_The defeat he suffered after breaking his promise left her with a resolve she'd never felt before. She would never look at their backs again. Never, ever again._

_--------------------_

_"I think you make an excellent shinobi."_

_His eye creased as it always did, and she wondered what the smile might have looked like under the mask he always wore. The words were sincere, though, she could tell._

_--------------------_

_The wild-haired boy flashed a fanged grin at her when she planted a kiss on his cheek. He had asked playfully if she'd go on a date with him if the Uchiha hadn't stolen her heart._

_-------------------------------------_

**Reverie.**

"…in all circumstances we are utterly alone."

Itachi lifted an eyebrow at the pink enigma sprawled on the floor at his feet, soaking up remnants of ink into her pallid skin. That was certainly not what he had expected to hear…

"It seems you're becoming coherent."

Sakura sat up on her elbows, startled beyond words. She blinked several times, trying to focus tired eyes in the near complete darkness, save the roaring fire light across the room. Her hands twitched involuntarily from pain when she tried to right herself into a sitting position. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered why she was achieving a knack for waking up on hard wooden floors…

"My hands feel like they're on fire." Her voice was weak and forced.

"As well they should," Itachi spoke matter-of-factly, motioning towards the prone form beside them. "You blanked out about two hours into healing him. Honestly, I'm not familiar with healing rituals like these, so I assumed you were just meditating..."

The utterly confused look on Sakura's face didn't go unnoticed.

He cleared his throat. "It's been five hours. His wound closed up and eventually all I could smell in here was burning flesh, but you still didn't seem fazed. I had to smack you several times to get you to stop. Your chakra…"

She stuttered on the now enveloping pain. "M-m-my chakra is… it f-feels like I have nothing left..." Lying back down with exhaustion, she continued, propping her wrist on her sweaty forehead. "I feel like d-dying..."

Against his own better judgment, Itachi knelt down and reached a tentative hand out, grasping the sides of her throat with his fingers. She didn't even flinch at the contact; he noticed the glaze descending over her jade eyes.

"Your glands are swollen, I can see them sticking out from your neck."

She placed her throbbing hand over his, which he pulled away the moment she touched. Rubbing gently, wincing, Sakura then felt for the glands under her arm pits as well, making a sour face.

_'My body must think I'm sick, it's acting like I have a fever—'_

Almost as if the realization was at fault, she turned on her side and started dry heaving.

Itachi jumped back from her side to avoid possible mess...

It was quite obvious she was suffering from very severe chakra depletion at this point. Something that _could_ cause death.

"Use it."

"Wha…" Sakura started coughing, choking on her own throat, it felt like. "I need water…"

He studied her with his Sharingan. "Use it. The Souzou Saisei. You could _die_, you know."

Incredulous, she tried and failed to sit up and look fiercely at him. So she just settled on glaring at him from behind damp hair, body balled up on the floor. The effect she wanted was indeed lost.

"No."

Itachi couldn't tell if he felt sorry for her or not, but either way his body moved on it's own volition to the kitchen, where he got her a cup of water and brought it back to her still form. She took it from him and sat up on her elbows once again, tired through and through. Sipping the liquid gingerly so as not to upset her stomach, she found herself staring into hovering red eyes for the hundredth time in her relatively short lifetime.

Her glance shifted to the body of Deidara, still lying in the same position she remembered him being in hours before she blacked out. "Is he…?"

"He's alive. Seems to be sleeping at this point."

She sighed. "I don't know why I went these lengths…"

Itachi murmured something unintelligible and moved out to the front porch, leaning on the doorframe with his back to her.

-

He failed to mention that she very well may have died for a moment not even a half hour ago. Her body had begun to seize violently, still pouring chakra out of her fingertips, and she'd fallen backwards into a drooling heap… Eyes rolled back and fluttering convulsively to show nothing but white. She called out for her mentors, the Jinchuuriki, and even his own brother between loud gulps of air…

In the five or so minute span this all started happening, Itachi continued to sit where he had been cross-legged on the other side of the room…

…And for some reason far beyond his ability to understand, he came to the conclusion that the girl was _not_ better off dead at that moment. Chocking it up to her inevitable usefulness to himself, he ground out an inkling of unease at having her die in the middle of his home on a cold floor.

In a finale that went against everything he'd lived by for the past six years, Itachi did a last second copy healing jutsu to try and _save_ a _stranger_.

Pressing his left hand to Sakura's forehead and his right to her chest, he gathered a minute amount of chakra to his fingers and concentrated on making it look and feel like he had observed hers to. Only a minute or two passed before her shaking subsided and her wheezing breath steadied and righted; allowing her back into the world of the living; using her next breath to speak very incongruous words about _loneliness_ to a man who related all too well.

No one would ever know what he did in this _obvious_ lapse of insanity, not without taking it to their grave. The familiar darkness in his personality had settled back over him triumphantly.

-

He peeked over his right shoulder and found her once again asleep with the empty cup still gripped in delicate fingers. The lifted edges of the ink circle tattooed her face and arms with black reminders of her deed.

"Tch…" The sound escaped his lips at the sight of her weak, crumpled form on the floor.

By no means did she look like that strong kunoichi she pretended to be. The short pastel pink hair she sported didn't help her look any less innocent. Her eyes didn't hold that typical hardened or troubled stare you'd expect from a shinobi, either.

Something about it pissed him off. He found himself glaring at her from over his shoulder now, detesting her presence.

'_Just kill her now,' _his mind told him_, 'You studied her chakra manipulation already, the technique you want is something you can figure out on your own…' _

He turned around and moved swiftly to her side once again, piercing holes through her serene face with an intense stare.

_'You could crush her throat with the ease of swatting a fly…'_

His fingertips prickled at the idea of it. A distinct want for feeling her flesh under his ministrations, the cracking sound of bone, the shock and fear she'd have on her face when she realized what was happening… blood spilling from between those pink lips…

"Itachi."

"Kisame… what?" he spoke to the new arrival but didn't turn away from the snuff film playing out in his mind.

Kisame stepped into the shrine, shaking the dew from his cloak. He dropped the bags he brought onto the table against the wall, sighing quietly to himself when he crossed the room to settle by the fire to warm his cold hands.

Needless to say, he felt the tension in the room before even stepping foot inside. Something was going down, and by the look of things, Itachi was in a strange state for some reason. His killing intent probably scared away all the animals within a mile radius... And it was only going to get worse once he heard the news…

Not looking forward to the inevitable, Kisame found himself wanting to just go to bed and forget. But it was his duty not _just_ as a partner to tell Itachi… And, whether or not it really mattered, it all bothered him as well.

"So, how's Deidara?"

Itachi blinked the images away, clenching and unclenching his fists for a moment, feeling mechanical for some reason. He left the unsuspecting girl on the floor, noting that her breath was shallow but even, and took a place next to Kisame by the warmth of the fire.

"Seems her medical jutsu skills are impressive," he said as nonchalantly as possible, keeping his eyes straight ahead so as not to betray.

"So he's going to live, that's good, I guess." Kisame's eyes wandered to Sakura. "I want to know how he got himself into this situation. He captured the Shukaku without much incident, do you think it was the Kyuubi who did that to him? He seemed useless both times we've met…" He seemed to ponder the idea. "Perhaps it was the Copy Ninja?"

Itachi gave a noncommittal "Hm" in response.

"So, what are we going to do with the girl? Did you get any good techniques from her then? Are we killing her or what?"

His partner remained silent.

Kisame smirked. "Don't tell me THE Uchiha Itachi is lonely?"

On queue, the 'red glare of death' sent the Shark's mouth into a straight line, eyes reflecting someone who was waiting for a swift punch to the face. "Ahem, yeah…JOKE."

Voice slightly colder than normal, Itachi raised questioning eyes. "So, what took you so long?"

"Funny thing, that…" He searched for the correct way to go about _not_ raising serious ire right away. "You'll never guess who I ran into in town…" He tried to study any hidden reaction in the now black eyes watching him expectedly. "I was on my way out when I happened upon Kakuzu and Hidan coming from meeting with Leader…"

"And?"

"And… All right, I'm just going to come out with this, you're not going to like it. Hell, even Kakuzu looked displeased and that's only a step up from seeing _you_ look _happy_."

Itachi's eyebrow twitched. "Will you just fucking get to it already? I'd like to get some sleep before the sun comes up."

Kisame obliged. "Alright, so, they were walking up the stairs to the back entrance of the compound and felt two familiar chakra signatures. Ones that weren't supposed to be there, you know... They snuck the rest of the way up to see that Kabuto kid and someone in a cloak leaving from the back door…"

"Someone in a cloak?" It was all too obvious if Kabuto was there…

"Uh, yeah… Hidan was sure it was Orochimaru…"

Kisame blanched a pale shade of blue when he saw the fire behind Itachi's thoughtful eyes. But, despite that, he seemed calm…

"They want to meet with us and discuss the… _implications_. Sometime later today I guess, they said they'd be in town until tomorrow then they have to get moving again. There's word the Nekomata Nibi will be out on a mission and all that."

Itachi stood stiffly and walked to his bedroll a few steps from the hearth. His gaze still reflected the burning of the fire, though his back was to it now as he shrugged out of his mesh shirt and readied for sleep.

There was no place for words at the moment. They both knew the mutual feelings among the older members of Akatsuki when it came to the Snake. Things would only get more complicated now, no doubt about it.

Kisame took the retreating figure for what it was and headed to his room for the night. He came to a stop at Sakura's feet, throwing an inquisitive glance at the black lump that represented Itachi in the darkness of the room. Questioning his intentions again so soon would be suicide…

_'Ah, hell…can't let a pretty lady shiver on the floor all night, right?'_

Even though said 'pretty lady' had managed to give him quite a fight, not something you attribute to soft femininity. He pulled his cloak off and draped it over her anyway.

"Pathetic."

Kisame ignored the compulsory mocking from his partner with a grin.

"I call it chivalry, my friend."

* * *

Hours later, the sun made it's way above the trees, pushing the chill of night into distant memory. The small patch of forest that hid a shrine full of dark intensions and a hidden group of saviors pitched in the breeze, liberally dropping leaves of many colors over the ground in a blanket of decay. The season of death was on its way into full swing, promising plummeting temperatures and freezing rainfall in its wake.

High above the earth, a brown and tan speckled hawk called a warning from deep in her throat. Today was the beginning of an important event for her and the masters she kept and would soon be keeping. The scrolls wrapped carefully and tied to her neck signified its advent.

With eyes sharper than sharp and duty on her wings, the Godaime's own hand-chosen messenger hawk braced against the current of the wind and charged headlong down to the edge of the forest to her destination. She'd had a long trip back to her master in the late hours of the night and turned around only moments later to come back through the early hours of the morning.

Tsunade had given her the name Naomi, a name most fitting.

Her flock awaited her eagerly, the one named Yamato greeting her the moment she took her perch on a nearby tree stump.

"She was right, Naomi, you're unbelievably swift," he said warmly, giving her a pat on the head and a piece of fish he had saved.

She puffed her chest out with pride, arching her neck to the side allowing him access to the notes she carried. He thanked her and she disappeared in a puff of displaced air and smoke.

Yamato placed the one marked specifically for their charge in his vest pocket, unrolling the squad's mission scroll and memorized every word with wide eyes. "This…"

"What is it, Commander?" his burgundy haired subordinate asked, jumping down from an above tree branch to land next to him.

He shook his head for a moment. "I just… I'm still having problems digesting this mission."

"May I?" Yuugao motioned to the paper, sliding her cat mask up to rest on the crown of her head.

"Oh, yeah, of course." Yamato responded, handing it off. "You all need to read it, then we'll get this plan organized."

"Well let's see here…" Yuugao summarized for her team, "Haruno Sakura. Assigned team Kakashi since age twelve. Now fifteen and a Chuunin. She's been training with Tsunade-sama for the past two years. It seems she was involved in the death of Sasori of the Red Sand, who was, as we all know, an S-Rank member of Akatsuki… That was only a few days ago, it seems. She disappeared with obvious signs of trauma. Umm… oh, wow…"

Aoba stepped up beside her and glanced over her shoulder. "What is she doing healing Akatsuki members here in Grass country?"

"In her defense, we can assume she had no choice. We don't know why they've taken her, but it's been confirmed she's now traveling with Uchiha Itachi…" their medic, Houshou, piped up from his spot by their dwindling fire as he finished his breakfast. "Hence this mission. Though, from what I know about the Uchiha, one ANBU team with one medic won't be enough to--"

Yuugao cut him off. "It says here we're _not_ supposed to rescue the girl?" She turned an inquisitive glance to their commander. "This can't be right. She's a fifteen year old Chuunin!"

Yanking the scroll from her hands, Aoba continued reading aloud, "Intercept Haruno Sakura without letting her captors become aware. Give her the scroll. Trail the group for as long as we can and report findings every other day. Commander Yamato is to plant the summon for Naomi on her so she can send correspondence directly to the Hokage."

Houshou whistled at the proposition. "That's heavy… I met her a few times at the hospital, she seemed talented and all. But fifteen years old and doing a solo S-Rank level mission? The Hokage must have serious faith."

"If we find that she's being mistreated to the point that she can't continue her mission we're to pull her out, it says." Aoba finished, handing the scroll back to Yamato.

A solemn mood descended over the battle-hardened ANBU squad. None of them were younger than twenty-three years, all having had their own share of battles throughout their lives. Some even having experience in not one, but two wars to defend Konoha. Were they helping to doom a young woman now? Is that what this mission would ultimately come to?

A single thought hit a crescendo among the four, silently ringing on and on…

'_**This is insane.'**_

Yamato cleared his throat, bringing everyone to his attention. "What we think personally doesn't matter here. We're to follow the Hokage's orders."

Mumbles of "Yeah, we know…" And "Of course…" echoed around him.

"But, we're all in obvious agreement. Which is why we'll do everything in our power to help Haruno Sakura from the sidelines. This is, in essence, an information-gathering mission for a team of _five_. At least, that's how I'd like to think of it. No matter what happens, we _will not_ see our fellow Leaf shinobi die. As long as we have breath in our bodies."

With a new kind of fire in their eyes, the ANBU squad made a silent pact at the commanders bold words.

"Five minutes. We're going to head east and loop around so we descend on that shrine from behind. From there we'll wait for our chance to intercept our 'inside man'. Without being able to simply fight our way in, we'll have to plan around what they do. Clear? No matter what happens, we can't let them know Konoha is trailing them, for the girl's sake. It could put her in further danger."

"Hai, Commander!" the three said in unison, going their separate ways to cover the campsite and collect their belongings.

Yamato straightened his vest, fingering the scroll marked 'Haruno' in his pocket.

_'How will you react when you find out we're not here to rescue you, Sakura-san?'_

* * *

Across the forest in a shrine invisible to the untrained eye, a storm was brewing.

The second to last existing Uchiha paced drastically back and forth in the kitchen. Blocking out the activity around him.

Out in the main room, a pink haired Konoha ninja bickered relentlessly with a dangerous criminal Shark, both shoveling rice into their hungry mouths.

Across the room, a recovering patient stared longingly at the two noisy people, praying for silence long enough for him to continue sleeping…

It was a strange puzzle, indeed.

-

"You got ripped off, is all I'm trying to tell you! Stop getting so defensive!"

"If I wanted to hear your opinion on the matter, I'd beat it out of you, woman!"

'**THUMP!'**

The distinct sound of splintering wood…

'**CRASH!'**

The old wooden table indeed saw it's last legs. It and its contents went flying everywhere, cups and plates shattering against the walls and floor, food spraying everywhere.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Kisame jumped to his feet, just barely dodging the steaming hot teapot that flew towards his skull and crashed against the wall.

Sakura stood with her hands at her sides balled into fists, panting lightly with searing anger. "Don't you _ever_--!"

But the insane feeling of pure calamity radiating from the doorway cut her off. Itachi stood stiffly with his arms hidden inside his Akatsuki cloak, directing his intentions towards everyone in the room. He'd clearly had enough, finding it increasingly hard to keep his cool anymore.

"Kisame!" he barked, striding as light as the air itself to look the man straight in the eyes. "Get your stuff together. Now."

He turned his dark eyes to the second offender. "And you!"

Sakura absentmindedly pointed to herself, wide eyed and clearly shelved. _'Oh, Kami, he looks unbelievably pissed off…'_

"Do what you're told and just fucking inoculate him already!"

She looked at the floor, scanning her eyes over the mess for the bags that had been amongst the fodder. "I…"

"**You.** Have no say. You. Seem to be forgetting rather quickly who's in charge here. Do it **_now_**."

_'He'll surely kill me.'_ But she realized she needed to compose herself as best as possible. This couldn't go on any longer.

"Fine," she said softly, finding the bags near the outside doorway and picking them up. "Will you just tell me though… when can I teach you the Souzou Saisei and leave? I think we'd all be better off if we could part ways already, right?"  
Nervous laughter…  
"You have no use for me above the original reason you _kidnapped_ me, are you going to let me leave or not?"

She watched as Kisame left the room briskly, heading for his bedroom.

Itachi seemed to ponder her question for a moment, but he didn't give her an answer. "Make sure Deidara is in condition to move, we're leaving in fifteen minutes."

"What!" Sakura was floored by his blatant disregard. "Where are we going! Why won't you answer my question!"

He once again dodged the issue as she watched him disappear through the doorway. There was nothing to do but stand there and try not to shake from roiling anger trying to escape.

_'He makes me feel so powerless!'_

Sakura found what she needed in the kitchen, returning moments later to kneel at Deidara's side.

_'If he plans on making me stay for some reason…'_

"Sit up," she spoke coldly.

The tired blond did his best, weakly sitting up to lean against the statue at his back. Tired eyes focused on her angry face.

_'If he plans on killing me…'_

She eyed the packet of herbs, sighing. Dumping half into the large spoon she took from the kitchen, she did her best to displace the remaining space with as much water as possible. She channeled the tiniest bit of chakra to the tips of her fingers, resting the full spoon on top to suck in the heat.

_'I will not go out without a fight; I don't care how strong he is! I'd rather die in the wilderness than let him use and kill me here! I have too many things to do yet…'_

Deidara watched the girl hovering over him with a thoughtful expression. He could clearly see the debate going on behind her eyes. There weren't words to express his thankfulness towards her for all she had done. And even if he found the words, his throat was far too dry and his body in too much pain to articulate.

Sakura met his gaze. A frown automatically followed, and deep down she found herself feeling sorry for him at that moment.

_'What the hell is wrong with me…?'_

Blinking and looking away, she reached down and picked up the syringe. She sucked the thick brownish liquid up from the spoon slowly in an attempt to get as much of the drug as possible.

Deidara looked nervously back and forth between the needle and the girl holding it in a clenched fist, as if she were about to simply stab him through with it. Who was she, anyway? And why was she so familiar?

"Alright, this is probably going to hurt, I won't lie. And this herbal mixture is really harsh on the stomach. You won't be having much fun later…"

She grabbed his left arm unceremoniously, laying it flat against her thigh. Grabbing his wrist, she bent it slightly, tapping the veins at the inner elbow to get them to pop up. No such luck.

"Hmm…"

The room held no makeshift tourniquet. She debated against tearing cloth from her own shirt, well… Itachi's shirt. That settled it.

The fishnet cloth tore easily and she tied it above his elbow tightly.

"There we go." She gave him a weak smile.

He was still staring intently at her, sending a shiver up her spine. When the needle pricked the fat blue vein protruding from his arm, he didn't even flinch. She emptied the syringe slowly and withdrew the needle.

Sakura spoke under her breath. "Well, let's hope that does it, I guess…"

She continued to look over his right arm and other injuries, watching his expression as she bent and poked at painful spots. His arm was definitely not healed completely, or maybe not even correctly, she realized. But he was alive, that's all she could assure him. Her mind fought with her conscience over whether or not she really cared.

Her skin crawled the moment his fingertips lightly touched her forehead.

Wide-eyed, she brought her hand up to smack his away. "What are…?"

He huffed slightly, bringing his hand down, speaking between cracking lips. "You have black on you…"

"Eh?" She rubbed her hand over her skin roughly.

"You have ink all over the side of your face."

As jumpy as ever, Sakura realized she hadn't noticed that Itachi had come back into the room. How long had he been standing there?

Their eyes met in dually unreadable stares. An uncomfortable silence descended upon the room, the breeze outside whisked a few yellow leaves in through the front door to skitter across the wooden floor. Deidara shifted uncomfortably.

"If you're done with him we're leaving now."

**_Abstraction._**

"I… want to take a bath first, and wash my clothes…"

He fought the urge to lash out. "You can worry about that when we get to town."

"Town?"

"Yes."

_'We're going to a town! This might be my only chance…'_

Leaving her 'patient' to lean where he was, Sakura scurried to get her med pack and blood stained clothes from the washroom where she had left them. She came back out, tying her discarded hitae-ate in place, slipping her feet into her 'shit kickers' (as Ino had so eloquently called her boots) and lacing them up her shins just below her knee caps. She stomped one foot in place, remembering why she liked her new gear so much.

Kisame strode out of his room with a bag slung over his shoulder, eyeing the kunoichi with a barely permissible grin. "You look good in black. And those boots…" he half growled and chuckled.

She rolled her eyes at him.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. _'That she does…'_ He quickly ditched the thought. "Let's go. Kisame, carry Deidara."

-

Three Akatsuki criminals and one Konoha medical ninja took to the trees minutes later amidst hitching pain, a growl of protest, and twofold sighs of irritation.

Amidst their departure, four Konoha ANBU moved with them at a safe distance, as silent as the wind pushing at their backs.

* * *

--

--

--

Yeah, it took a little bit to get this chapter out. I apologize. I was trying to get a chapter out every week, but personal crap started popping up and all that… you know how it goes. ;  
Lots of new characters this chappie, eh? I put up a page with some short character bios with pictures for those of you who aren't totally up on the manga and whatever. Go to my profile and the link to the bios page is there. Enjoy!

**Reviewers!**

Squishy Penguin, Rhonda21, iamNOTafangirl3221, tri1, JadeCrescent Fallen, firevixen73, XxHotBloodySirenxX, sillymail…

Aslan'sWhiteWitch: You may be pleasantly surprised how that plays out…

SweetAssassin: In so many words, the answer is indeed YES. :D

katsuhito sage: Thanks! The easiest way to write about Itachi and Sakura is to just throw them into love right off… but that just isn't believable, ya know? And yeah, I don't think she knows the summoning in the actual story, but I'm positive she could do it if Tsunade taught her. She's better at using her Chakra than Naruto, and he learned his Kuchiyose rather quickly himself. I agree with Kishimoto not giving his female characters enough credit. Hmph. Though, he IS getting better, I think. Sakura has sooo much potential, and she's surrounded by so many strong people. She's intelligent enough to learn so many different things, I hope he helps her improve even more than she already has.

Lady Light/claps along with you/ Weeee! Lol…

Melinda_**-**_chan: Doh! And here I thought I could actually spell things… haha… /sweatdrop/… Yeah, I suppose healing him was illegal, but she didn't have much of a choice. I can say though with certainty, she will not be joining Akatsuki. Though I think she'd look awesome in that cloak…

Sakura0890: You'll find out about those arms eventually. And yeah, what the hell? No one is updating their fics anymore. I have like 55 stories being watched on my favorites list, it's so depressing…

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS, GUYS! YOU'RE ALL SO SWEET, AND YOUR ENTHUSIASM HITS ME RIGHT IN THE HEART! I HOPE YOU ALL CONTINUE TO ENJOY MY STORY.

Xoxoxox

Ane S. Thesia


End file.
